Hi Robin, Aussie viewer here, James hardie has taken over australia and is basically everywhere. I personally choose not to use it and opt for Weathertex in stead. I strongly encourage you to take a look at weather tex range, it is a much better product enviromentally and the workability is just basic carpentry tools with now HEPA required.
If I remember correctly. JH was involved in some litigation here in Australia years ago and without being absolutely sure, I think they did some sort of transfer of their business to avoid the action.
Correct, think they moved to America,,,victim's still trying trying to get compensation from james hardie ,for his asbestos related material,,🏴☹️🏴☹️
Where I live there are horror stories about the finish on painted fibre cement roof tiles used on new builds degrading after a few years. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole on a roof, but I suppose timber cladding also has long term cosmetic issues. I would be reading the warranty terms very carefully though.
Hi Robin. We used Cedral, a competitor product on our extension this summer and think it looks great. Very complicated installation with all the clips, trims and flashing over the purlins, looking forward to seeing your Project and how the boards actually go on in the real world. FWIW we went with Cedral over Hardie VL because of availability and delivery on a small project, and as self builders the clips were less daunting than buying a nail gun for one job.
Been fitting the Hardie plank for years now and had no problems with it at all, some of it has been up for around 8 years and it still looks the same as the day I fitted it Haven't fitted the vl plank yet mainly due to the extra cost of the material as the clients are put off by it and opt for the Hardie plank original instead
Right, Robin here's the information people want to know, Price per square metre, Availability that is where can we get it, how can we get it, is it delivery only ? where's it stocked ? when can I get it, what's the lead time ? whats the warranty does it have bogus T&C's . If the company has not got itself together enough to give straight answers to these questions its not got itself together and you are gonna have nightmares dealing with them if you don't get yourself burnt. If they can't even be upfront with the most basic question of a price forget about it.
@@MKRM27 I don't know how you worked that out, there are plenty of companies that have a base price per unit, minimum order and escalating quantity discount again If a company knows what they are doing they should have those numbers straight away and if they don't their working relationship with their suppliers is unreliable which means, they are, which means you are and you will end up quoting someone and then shafting yourself
@@MKRM27 lets say the "base price per unit" is £10 and if you order more than 10 the "quantity discount" is 10% , I order 12 so it costs £108. So that represents exactly what you would pay and the base price per unit is useful because it allows you to work out exactly how much any quantity will cost you without having to ring up the supplier for a quote everytime. Do you struggle with maths ?
@@MKRM27 If you're relying on commercial sensitivity to protect a poor business model that would sink under transparency that's your prerogative, but what's that got to do with the majority of clients wanting a price up front ? and if you don't like quantitative discounts what do you want me to do about it, they exist for many reasons most prominently because of the economy of scale, they drive sales and people know these things. If you are upset by this because it stops you taking advantage of people that's a you problem not a me problem so I can't help you with that other than maybe just try being honest there's good people that will look out for you.
I see one of the first comments is it can be hard to work with. This is true. It is heavy. Cutting it is very dusty. Awkward cuts with a grinder. You can nail up with a Paslode yes. But the fixing is only a short distance from one edge so the lap covers it. Boards have a tendency to pull away at the bottom. Expansion and contraction. If you are putting it on in the cold or very hot getting the expansion gap right can be lucky dip. Too tight or too slack. The joiners are terrible. It does warp. It does crack. It can blow up massively when water gets into it. Very reliant on Hardie sealant and their own building paper to get it to weather. Yes it is a system. That is only one of many that they do and have used most in the last 20 odd years. My opinion. Harder to work with than timber cladding. The benefit is in the long term maintenance. And with that pre coloured version no initial painting cost. The thinner board like that also doesn't meet our fire regs for high risk areas. You have to go up to the 16mm thickness version. And they are heavy and awkward. Now we also have a composite board system in Oz that is a timber mix like a composite deck board. Cuts like timber. Looks like timber and is very durable. Has all the benefits of the hardie product but much easier to work with. That gets my vote.
If i would need now to do cladding and choose, between timbef or these . I would go for sure for fibre cement. Yes start bit more expensive as untreated timber, but if you look on other tech procese what you have to do paint and etc, repaint, and in long term this is much better option. Correctly fitted and forgot about it to 25+ years. Care , just wash if needed. And timber yes old good material , but if from beginning its been cutted in wrong time, you get basicly bad firewood😁
I know you’ve gotta fund the channel but I don’t sit through adverts before and after your video to then have a full video of just a pure commercial. This should have waited until you are actually using the product on the build. Let Hardie make their own adverts.
My steeped roofed house front with two dormers & T&G Wooden Cladding, is south facing and the wood really does get 'baked" in the summer months. I'm looking to replace it and speaking with Building Inspectors, Architects etc., out on site and now seeing this video of yours Roger, I will now most probably replace with Hardie VL Plank next spring/summer. In the interim, i will be very interested to see your future Hardie VL RUclips vids 👍😃. Also the main spindle on my 115mm gave out last week 😨 & i was thinking of getting another good Makita grinder when I spotted the Festool Festool DSC-AG 125 Grinder (1400 Watts) with integrated dust extraction & Festool Rail compatibility (designed to cut mineral/particle board). As I already have a Festool CTM 36 "Planex" Dust Extractor with a Cyclone Pre-seperator fitted, it makes sense to go for the AG 115 (especially if I'm going to be cutting fibrous cement Hardie VL Planks) 👍
Very interesting mixture of comments. It will be interesting to see how Robin gets on with it but then as a paid presentation the contract will say fantastic. Two Hardie products I don't mind. The original old Hardie plank. Not fixed guage just minimum cover so you have flexibility. Joiners are crap and the external corners. But it is quick easy and cost effective for budget constrained jobs. The second being Hardie Flex sheets. Slightly softer than competitors. More forgiving to cut and less prone to break when nailing. Not many weeks where I don't put up one version or another. As one other comment said from Australia it is everywhere. Not surprising since the company started here. All be it by a Scotsman. The more fancy and architectural the products become the worse they seem to get. Same as architect nightmare building design. What started out as robust economical cladding has morphed into rich man's designer cladding. Some of their products now are mega expensive. I have taken off and put on back in the day, tons of the old asbestos boards. Now they were tough. Cutting Super Six roof sheets with a petrol quick cut. Going home covered in snow. Now with the new sheets pretty much the same go home covered in silica dust. Not much of an improvement in 40 plus years.
@@MKRM27 In all honesty no product is perfect. Don't believe the advertising hype. Find out from use. As I tell most of my customers when they ask how long will this last. As long as you look after it. Decent timber cladding will last a lifetime with regular maintenance. This board could do the same with a bit less TLC. It will fade. It does degrade over time but then I don't look like I did when I started nearly 42 years ago.
Not this product as it's too thick, their other cladding system which is just called Hardie plank you can. But that has a different profile to it, the finish is more like a feathered edge board whereas this is more like shiplap
Have we really come to the point in the UK where skills have deterioted so badly that the solution is a bit of cement made to look like wood that is "easy to install". Sad times!
Hardie are a joke. The rep visited my site and left a sample. We agreed on the product then they sent the overlap boards instead of the V line. My local supplier took the hit for their mistake. When they sent the V line cladding there were lots of damaged boards. They also massively over specified how much cladding I needed (they did the quantities from the drawing) I was left with £600 of extra materials that they refused to uplift/refund. Shame because the product is good but they are horrible to deal with as a company
Yeah, they’re a huge global company with huge commercial contracts and don’t seem to care about the smaller jobs. I’ll never use them again and will suggest Cedral to my customers that fancy fibre cement cladding
Hi Mate, since I have been producing content and sharing my knowledge for free here on RUclips I have uploaded hundreds of hours of what I can show, teach and share and all this costs a lot of time effort, sacrifice and money, for me to be able to keep doing RUclips I will need from time to time partner with selected brands and product manufacturers to enable me to share my experiences and knowledge and not put a paid firewall in place like so many other content producers resort too, an example just this week was upgrading all our computers and software including external storage for huge files etc, this investment runs to several thousands of pounds and would no way be covered by YT add revenue, I can assure you that I receive many offers of paid product placement and I say no way more than I accept for fear of alienating my loyal followers, There may come a time that will stop putting thousands of hours a year into producing content but for now my audience on the whole is appreciative of what we try to do. What you you suggest I do to cover the time, costs and personal commitment instead of working with carefully selected partners, I would appreciate any Ideas?
@@ukconstruction Hi Robin, thanks for your reply. I for one am very appreciative of what you do, i enjoy watching your content and find it useful and informative and more importantly than what i think, it is great information for the young carpenters comming up to have the benefit of content like yours to accelerate their learning and make the experience that more enjoyable. All I would say is that if its going to be an advert then say its going to be an advert in the title. That is what the mainstream advertisers are required to do by law so that the viewers can distinguish what is and ad and what isnt. On you tube when an add comes on we can look away and skip it when we want to and on TV we go and make a cup of tea dont we....... We enjoy seeing what you do but when its an ad say its an ad. Cheers and all the best. Bill.
Nice one mate, I hear you, at the top of the video in the beginning there is a declaration that the video contains paid promotional content, this is something that I declare when publishing the video, it's just hard to spot!! Thanks for your feedback and kind words too!!
Hi Robin, Aussie viewer here, James hardie has taken over australia and is basically everywhere. I personally choose not to use it and opt for Weathertex in stead. I strongly encourage you to take a look at weather tex range, it is a much better product enviromentally and the workability is just basic carpentry tools with now HEPA required.
If I remember correctly. JH was involved in some litigation here in Australia years ago and without being absolutely sure, I think they did some sort of transfer of their business to avoid the action.
Correct, think they moved to America,,,victim's still trying trying to get compensation from james hardie ,for his asbestos related material,,🏴☹️🏴☹️
Massive scandal over Asbestos deaths.
Where I live there are horror stories about the finish on painted fibre cement roof tiles used on new builds degrading after a few years. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole on a roof, but I suppose timber cladding also has long term cosmetic issues. I would be reading the warranty terms very carefully though.
i have just removed my hardie board siding and replaced with vinyl, paint peeled and nothing i put on stuck to it .
Hardie is hard to work with at times, but its a very durable and stylish look. I just did a 20x14, two story addition with their Hardie shake shingle
Hi Robin. We used Cedral, a competitor product on our extension this summer and think it looks great. Very complicated installation with all the clips, trims and flashing over the purlins, looking forward to seeing your Project and how the boards actually go on in the real world. FWIW we went with Cedral over Hardie VL because of availability and delivery on a small project, and as self builders the clips were less daunting than buying a nail gun for one job.
Been fitting the Hardie plank for years now and had no problems with it at all, some of it has been up for around 8 years and it still looks the same as the day I fitted it
Haven't fitted the vl plank yet mainly due to the extra cost of the material as the clients are put off by it and opt for the Hardie plank original instead
Right, Robin here's the information people want to know, Price per square metre, Availability that is where can we get it, how can we get it, is it delivery only ? where's it stocked ? when can I get it, what's the lead time ? whats the warranty does it have bogus T&C's . If the company has not got itself together enough to give straight answers to these questions its not got itself together and you are gonna have nightmares dealing with them if you don't get yourself burnt. If they can't even be upfront with the most basic question of a price forget about it.
@@MKRM27 I don't know how you worked that out, there are plenty of companies that have a base price per unit, minimum order and escalating quantity discount again If a company knows what they are doing they should have those numbers straight away and if they don't their working relationship with their suppliers is unreliable which means, they are, which means you are and you will end up quoting someone and then shafting yourself
Could be 30quid sqm, just material i think. Something from Cedral products
Google -cedral. They got website😁
@@MKRM27 lets say the "base price per unit" is £10 and if you order more than 10 the "quantity discount" is 10% , I order 12 so it costs £108. So that represents exactly what you would pay and the base price per unit is useful because it allows you to work out exactly how much any quantity will cost you without having to ring up the supplier for a quote everytime. Do you struggle with maths ?
@@MKRM27 If you're relying on commercial sensitivity to protect a poor business model that would sink under transparency that's your prerogative, but what's that got to do with the majority of clients wanting a price up front ? and if you don't like quantitative discounts what do you want me to do about it, they exist for many reasons most prominently because of the economy of scale, they drive sales and people know these things. If you are upset by this because it stops you taking advantage of people that's a you problem not a me problem so I can't help you with that other than maybe just try being honest there's good people that will look out for you.
How does the carbon footprint of this manufactured board compare with that of traditional timber products?
And where is it manufactured?
I see one of the first comments is it can be hard to work with. This is true. It is heavy. Cutting it is very dusty. Awkward cuts with a grinder. You can nail up with a Paslode yes. But the fixing is only a short distance from one edge so the lap covers it. Boards have a tendency to pull away at the bottom. Expansion and contraction. If you are putting it on in the cold or very hot getting the expansion gap right can be lucky dip. Too tight or too slack. The joiners are terrible. It does warp. It does crack. It can blow up massively when water gets into it. Very reliant on Hardie sealant and their own building paper to get it to weather. Yes it is a system. That is only one of many that they do and have used most in the last 20 odd years. My opinion. Harder to work with than timber cladding. The benefit is in the long term maintenance. And with that pre coloured version no initial painting cost. The thinner board like that also doesn't meet our fire regs for high risk areas. You have to go up to the 16mm thickness version. And they are heavy and awkward. Now we also have a composite board system in Oz that is a timber mix like a composite deck board. Cuts like timber. Looks like timber and is very durable. Has all the benefits of the hardie product but much easier to work with. That gets my vote.
what's that product called?
@@Foz1 Weathertex is one. But there are several others. Much nicer to use than cement board.
@@davetaylor4741 looks like a nice product, not new at all so should have a good performance history
If i would need now to do cladding and choose, between timbef or these . I would go for sure for fibre cement. Yes start bit more expensive as untreated timber, but if you look on other tech procese what you have to do paint and etc, repaint, and in long term this is much better option. Correctly fitted and forgot about it to 25+ years. Care , just wash if needed.
And timber yes old good material , but if from beginning its been cutted in wrong time, you get basicly bad firewood😁
Is this the same cladding Liam at Oakwood used, it looked great and not too difficult to install and cheaper the cedar cladding?
It appears they've given you a sample not an installers pack
I know you’ve gotta fund the channel but I don’t sit through adverts before and after your video to then have a full video of just a pure commercial. This should have waited until you are actually using the product on the build.
Let Hardie make their own adverts.
My steeped roofed house front with two dormers & T&G Wooden Cladding, is south facing and the wood really does get 'baked" in the summer months. I'm looking to replace it and speaking with Building Inspectors, Architects etc., out on site and now seeing this video of yours Roger, I will now most probably replace with Hardie VL Plank next spring/summer. In the interim, i will be very interested to see your future Hardie VL RUclips vids 👍😃. Also the main spindle on my 115mm gave out last week 😨 & i was thinking of getting another good Makita grinder when I spotted the Festool Festool DSC-AG 125 Grinder (1400 Watts) with integrated dust extraction & Festool Rail compatibility (designed to cut mineral/particle board). As I already have a Festool CTM 36 "Planex" Dust Extractor with a Cyclone Pre-seperator fitted, it makes sense to go for the AG 115 (especially if I'm going to be cutting fibrous cement Hardie VL Planks) 👍
@@MKRM27My apologies you're absolutely right, of course it's Robin 👍 I've been watching too much Skillbuilder recently 😂
That festool grinder is a great tool and if you can afford it go for it!!! thanks for watching and look out for my Install guide out soon
Very interesting mixture of comments. It will be interesting to see how Robin gets on with it but then as a paid presentation the contract will say fantastic. Two Hardie products I don't mind. The original old Hardie plank. Not fixed guage just minimum cover so you have flexibility. Joiners are crap and the external corners. But it is quick easy and cost effective for budget constrained jobs. The second being Hardie Flex sheets. Slightly softer than competitors. More forgiving to cut and less prone to break when nailing. Not many weeks where I don't put up one version or another. As one other comment said from Australia it is everywhere. Not surprising since the company started here. All be it by a Scotsman. The more fancy and architectural the products become the worse they seem to get. Same as architect nightmare building design. What started out as robust economical cladding has morphed into rich man's designer cladding. Some of their products now are mega expensive. I have taken off and put on back in the day, tons of the old asbestos boards. Now they were tough. Cutting Super Six roof sheets with a petrol quick cut. Going home covered in snow. Now with the new sheets pretty much the same go home covered in silica dust. Not much of an improvement in 40 plus years.
@@MKRM27 In all honesty no product is perfect. Don't believe the advertising hype. Find out from use. As I tell most of my customers when they ask how long will this last. As long as you look after it. Decent timber cladding will last a lifetime with regular maintenance. This board could do the same with a bit less TLC. It will fade. It does degrade over time but then I don't look like I did when I started nearly 42 years ago.
Can you cut it with a guillotine cutter? Or with a grinder?
Not this product as it's too thick, their other cladding system which is just called Hardie plank you can. But that has a different profile to it, the finish is more like a feathered edge board whereas this is more like shiplap
Have we really come to the point in the UK where skills have deterioted so badly that the solution is a bit of cement made to look like wood that is "easy to install".
Sad times!
That installers pack won't get you far 😜
Hardie are a joke. The rep visited my site and left a sample. We agreed on the product then they sent the overlap boards instead of the V line. My local supplier took the hit for their mistake. When they sent the V line cladding there were lots of damaged boards. They also massively over specified how much cladding I needed (they did the quantities from the drawing) I was left with £600 of extra materials that they refused to uplift/refund. Shame because the product is good but they are horrible to deal with as a company
Yeah, they’re a huge global company with huge commercial contracts and don’t seem to care about the smaller jobs. I’ll never use them again and will suggest Cedral to my customers that fancy fibre cement cladding
👍👍
give it 20 years and it ll cost more than the building's worth to dispose of it.
Thanks for that RC. Just watched your 8 minute long advert. Sigh........
Hi Mate, since I have been producing content and sharing my knowledge for free here on RUclips I have uploaded hundreds of hours of what I can show, teach and share and all this costs a lot of time effort, sacrifice and money, for me to be able to keep doing RUclips I will need from time to time partner with selected brands and product manufacturers to enable me to share my experiences and knowledge and not put a paid firewall in place like so many other content producers resort too, an example just this week was upgrading all our computers and software including external storage for huge files etc, this investment runs to several thousands of pounds and would no way be covered by YT add revenue, I can assure you that I receive many offers of paid product placement and I say no way more than I accept for fear of alienating my loyal followers, There may come a time that will stop putting thousands of hours a year into producing content but for now my audience on the whole is appreciative of what we try to do. What you you suggest I do to cover the time, costs and personal commitment instead of working with carefully selected partners, I would appreciate any Ideas?
@@ukconstruction Hi Robin, thanks for your reply. I for one am very appreciative of what you do, i enjoy watching your content and find it useful and informative and more importantly than what i think, it is great information for the young carpenters comming up to have the benefit of content like yours to accelerate their learning and make the experience that more enjoyable. All I would say is that if its going to be an advert then say its going to be an advert in the title. That is what the mainstream advertisers are required to do by law so that the viewers can distinguish what is and ad and what isnt. On you tube when an add comes on we can look away and skip it when we want to and on TV we go and make a cup of tea dont we....... We enjoy seeing what you do but when its an ad say its an ad. Cheers and all the best. Bill.
Nice one mate, I hear you, at the top of the video in the beginning there is a declaration that the video contains paid promotional content, this is something that I declare when publishing the video, it's just hard to spot!! Thanks for your feedback and kind words too!!
I thought James Hardie was a building business, who also show their work on youtube.?? !!
Are you thinking of Build with A&E? If so, I think James Hardie are or were their channel sponsor.