Ames siding
James Hardie-style fiber cement resists hail, won’t warp in the freeze-thaw, and holds its color for years — our most-recommended siding, installed right.
Call (515) 420-0434Fiber cement siding is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber pressed into boards that look like painted wood but won't rot, burn, or feed insects. Around Ames it's the upgrade most homeowners choose after they're tired of patching cedar, hardboard, or brittle vinyl. The material shrugs off the things that wreck siding here: standing moisture, hard freeze-thaw swings, and woodpeckers. Installed right, it holds paint far longer than wood and lasts 30 to 50 years.
You probably need residing, not just repair, when the failure shows up in more than one spot. Look at the north and west walls first — those take the wind-driven rain and dry slowest. Soft, punky boards near grade, paint peeling within two or three years, buckled or delaminating hardboard, and gaps opening at butt joints all point to a wall system that's past patching. If you can push a screwdriver into the siding, replacement is the honest answer.
It's also worth considering when you're already opening the walls for windows or an addition, or when an insurance claim after a hail or wind event gives you a reason to redo the whole elevation at once. Doing it piecemeal usually costs more over ten years than doing it once, correctly.
The crew strips the old siding down to the sheathing rather than laying new boards over failing ones. That's the only way to see what the water has done — rotted OSB, framing damage near windows, or missing sheathing. In older Ames homes they often find board sheathing or no sheathing at all behind the original siding. They document what they find and show you before anything gets covered back up.
New house wrap goes over the sheathing, taped and lapped so water drains down and out. The crew flashes every window and door head, pan-flashes the sills, and adds kickout flashing where roofs meet walls — the exact spot where a lot of Ames wall rot starts. Without correct flashing, even the best siding traps water behind it. This layer matters more than the boards you can see.
The crew installs James Hardie or comparable fiber cement in lap, panel, or shingle profiles, with matching fiber cement or PVC trim at corners, windows, and fascia. Boards get fastened to the studs at the manufacturer's spacing, blind-nailed where the profile allows so fasteners stay hidden. They keep the required clearance above grade, roofs, and decks so the bottom edge never wicks moisture.
They leave a gap and caulk at trim junctions with high-movement sealant, not at butt joints, which are designed to be flashed and left open behind. If you choose pre-finished ColorPlus boards, no field painting is needed. If you go raw or want a custom color, they prime and paint with two coats rated for fiber cement. Both approaches are covered — we'll tell you the cost difference up front.
Old fiber cement and hardboard tear-off is heavy and dusty. The crew runs magnetic sweeps for nails, tarps your beds and landscaping during the work, and hauls all debris to the transfer station rather than leaving a dumpster on your lawn for weeks. Cutting fiber cement produces silica dust, so they cut with dust-collecting saws away from your windows and your neighbor's.
The contractor walks every elevation, measures, and probes the walls where they suspect rot. You'll get a written estimate that separates material, labor, and the allowance for sheathing repair they can't fully see until tear-off. We'll tell you honestly whether your walls need a full residing or a targeted repair.
You choose profile, color, and finished-or-field-paint. The contractor pulls the City of Ames building permit when the scope requires it and orders material. Pre-finished colors can take a couple of weeks to arrive, so this is where the calendar gets set. They schedule around the forecast.
The crew strips one or two elevations at a time so your house is never fully exposed, replaces any bad sheathing, and gets the water barrier and flashing on the same day a wall comes off. If they uncover framing rot, they stop and show you before repairing it and adjusting the estimate.
Boards go on, trim gets fit, joints are flashed and sealed, and paint follows if needed. They walk the whole house with you, check fastener lines and clearances, and clean the site. You get the manufacturer warranty paperwork and the contractor's workmanship warranty in writing before they invoice.
Ames housing runs the full range: turn-of-the-century wood-sided homes near downtown and the campus, 1950s and 60s ranches with original hardboard or aluminum, and newer subdivisions on the north and west edges that often went up with builder-grade vinyl. Each has its own failure story. The hardboard and Masonite from the 60s through 80s swells and crumbles once the paint film breaks. Cedar checks and rots at the bottom courses. Vinyl gets brittle and cracks in a hard central-Iowa cold snap, then blows off in wind.
The weather here is genuinely hard on walls. Winter drives freeze-thaw cycles that pry apart any material holding water, summers are humid enough to keep north walls damp for days, and central Iowa's straight-line wind — the August 2020 derecho being the extreme example — tests every fastener and edge. Fiber cement handles all of it better than what it usually replaces, but only if it's installed with correct clearances and flashing. A full residing job in Ames generally needs a building permit, and the contractor checks with the city and pulls it when it does. If your home was built before 1978, they test for lead paint before any tear-off and follow the RRP rules for containment.
For a typical Ames house, budget roughly 12 to 20 dollars per square foot of wall area installed, which usually lands most single-story and two-story homes somewhere between the high teens and low forties in total. The spread comes from house height, how much trim and detail you have, whether you choose pre-finished or field-painted boards, and how much rotten sheathing they find. The contractor gives a real number after measuring, with the sheathing allowance called out separately so you're not surprised.
Most homes take one to two weeks of on-site work once material arrives, weather permitting. A large or complex house with lots of trim can run longer. The bigger variable is lead time on pre-finished colors, which can add a couple of weeks before they start. The crew works one elevation at a time so your house is never left open overnight, and they don't tear off more than they can dry in the same day.
Sometimes. If wind or hail damaged your existing siding — common after central Iowa storms — your homeowner policy may cover replacement of the damaged elevations, and occasionally the whole house if matching isn't possible. Insurance won't pay to upgrade sound siding just because you want fiber cement. The contractor can document storm damage for your adjuster and meet them at the house. Age and general wear aren't covered; a specific, datable storm event is what triggers a claim.
No. James Hardie is the most common fiber cement brand here and has a strong warranty, but Allura and others make comparable boards. The bigger decisions are profile — traditional lap, board-and-batten panel, or shingle — and finish. Pre-finished ColorPlus costs more up front but carries a 15-year finish warranty and skips field painting. Raw boards cost less and let you pick any color, but you're repainting sooner. We'll lay out both so you can weigh cost against maintenance.
Two separate things. The manufacturer warrants the board itself — Hardie's is 30 years, non-prorated, against rot, cracking, and delamination — and the finish warranty (15 years on ColorPlus) covers the factory paint. Neither covers installation. That's why their workmanship warranty matters: it covers the flashing, fastening, and sealing they did. A board warranty is worthless if water got behind it through a bad flashing detail, so ask any contractor to put their labor warranty in writing.
Not if it's specified right. Fiber cement comes in smooth and wood-grain textures and in narrow lap widths that match the reveal on older Ames homes better than wide builder vinyl. They can run 4-inch exposures, add proper corner boards and window trim, and keep the proportions that make a Craftsman or foursquare look correct. If your home sits in a designated historic area, some exterior changes may need review, so tell us early and they'll check before ordering.