How Your Fiber Cement Siding Is Made & Why It’s Important

Imagine a siding material so strong, durable, and attractive that you can have it professionally installed this year, and it will still look great in fifty years. Fiber cement siding can achieve this remarkable track record, which may make you wonder: how is fiber cement siding made? 

Mix a Batch

In a James Hardie fiber cement plant, five ingredients are carefully combined to produce a completely human-made product with excellent properties:

1. Silica Sand—This naturally occurring mineral acts as a filler.
2. Cellulose—Fibers from wood give the product resilience, flexibility, and strength.
3. Portland Cement—The clay, limestone, and iron bind all the other ingredients together.
4. Proprietary Ingredients—Additives carefully screened by James Hardie chemists provide superior color retention, surface clarity, and other qualities to produce an excellent product.
5. Water—The universal solvent allows all the ingredients to adhere and mix thoroughly.

Forming a single panel of fiber cement siding involves enormous autoclaves (ovens), heavy rollers, and astoundingly long conveyor systems:

• The fiber cement slurry is squeezed out to reduce water and form large sheets.
• These are then imprinted with the desired pattern (wood, stucco, cement, or even smooth panel).
• Autoclaves partially dry the sheets, which are then cut into panels
• All four sides are finished, then all four sides are painted and baked again.

The finished fiber cement siding product is formed so the millionth panel will look exactly like the first panel in texture, weight, color, and finish. 

Close to Perfect

No building material, natural or human-made, is 100 percent perfect. Wood siding is beautiful but expensive and hard to maintain. Vinyl siding is economical but susceptible to warping and fading in intense sun. Fiber cement siding is as close to perfect as humans can get. Some of James Hardie siding’s properties:

• Moisture resistant—Sheds water, rather than soaking it in
• Rot-proof—Portland cement does not rot
• Insect repellant—pests do not like the taste of Portland cement!
• Fire-resistant—Fiber cement siding will not start or spread a fire
• Environmentally friendly—All the ingredients are naturally occurring; the panels can last 50 years
• Durable—High winds, pelting rain, sleet, and blazing sun have almost no effect on sturdy fiber cement siding

When dealing with an exterior remodeling project, discuss the many benefits of fiber cement siding with your local, helpful siding contractor. Moss Roofing provides Indianapolis-area homeowners safe, trustworthy craftsmanship in everything we do. Contact us today to learn more about durable, beautiful fiber cement siding.