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Older houses, a known problem

Hardboard Siding Replacement Around Clear Lake

Hardboard lap siding, a pressed-wood product, went onto a great many American houses from the 1970s into the 1990s, and plenty of them are around Clear Lake and in the older parts of League City. Where water gets past the paint, hardboard swells, softens and flakes at the bottom edges. Past a point there is no repairing it, only replacing it.

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How to Tell It Is Hardboard, and That It Has Failed

Hardboard is lighter than fiber-cement and sounds hollow when tapped. Its failure has a signature: the lower edges of the laps swell and mushroom, the paint blisters and peels in patches, and a screwdriver pressed into a soft spot goes in. It shows up first on the bottom courses, under windows and wherever sprinklers hit the wall.

A few bad boards can be swapped. When the swelling runs along whole walls, the wood fiber has been wet for years and the sheathing behind it needs looking at too.

Swollen and flaking bottom edges of painted hardboard lap siding above a mulched flower bed, a screwdriver tip pressed into a soft spot

What Replaces It

Fiber-cement lap

The common choice around here. Heavier, rot-proof and fire-resistant; it needs painting and careful joint detailing.

Engineered wood

Lighter and easier to cut than fiber-cement, with a treated core. It still wants good paint and clearances.

Brick stays

Most of these houses are brick on the first floor or the front. Only the siding above and at the gables usually comes off.

Clear Lake or League City Changes the Paperwork

Re-siding a significant portion of an exterior wall needs a windstorm certificate of compliance on the Galveston County side, according to TWIA. In League City, Dickinson or Kemah, a whole-house re-side is inspected. In Clear Lake City, Nassau Bay, Webster, El Lago and Taylor Lake Village — Harris County, west of SH 146 — it is not, and the city permit is the paperwork.

The windstorm inspection applies in League City, Friendswood south of Clear Creek, Dickinson, Kemah, Clear Lake Shores, Bacliff, San Leon, Santa Fe and Seabrook. It does not apply in Clear Lake City, Nassau Bay, Webster, El Lago or Taylor Lake Village. The county line page has the table.

Questions on This Job

  1. Can swollen hardboard be sealed and painted?

    Lightly swollen boards sometimes take primer and paint for a few years. Soft, mushroomed boards cannot be saved.

  2. Does the sheathing behind need replacing?

    Only where it is wet or soft. It gets checked as the old siding comes off.

  3. Is it worth replacing just the bad walls?

    Often, yes, especially on houses with brick on most sides. Matching the new profile to the old is the constraint.

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