Walk into most siding companies in Pinellas County and you'll get a menu: vinyl, engineered wood, maybe a fiber cement option if you ask. We don't do that. Alpine Exteriors installs James Hardie fiber cement siding — period. Not because it's the only product that exists, but because after years of tear-offs and re-sides on Gulf Coast homes, it's the one material and manufacturer we're willing to put our name and our warranty conversations behind. This page isn't a general "here's what siding is" overview. It's about the James Hardie brand specifically: what's in the product line, what ColorPlus baked-on color actually means for a Dunedin home, and what Hardie's warranty does and doesn't cover.
Standardizing on one manufacturer also means our crews aren't relearning install specs for three different products every month. Every fastener pattern, every clearance detail, every flashing method we use is built around James Hardie's published installation instructions for our wind and moisture zone — not a generic "siding is siding" approach.
James Hardie makes more than one style of fiber cement, and the right choice depends on the house — a 1950s Old Dunedin bungalow near Edgewater Drive doesn't call for the same profile as a newer build off Curlew Road. Here's what's actually in the lineup we work with.
The workhorse. Horizontal lap boards in a range of exposures and textures — smooth, cedarmill (wood-grain), and beaded options. This is what covers the majority of single-family homes we side in Dunedin, and it's available pre-finished in ColorPlus or as a primed board for field painting.
Staggered or straight-edge panels that mimic cedar shake. We use this most often as an accent — a gable end, a dormer, a porch feature — on homes going for the coastal-cottage look that fits Dunedin's historic districts, rather than as a whole-house material.
Large-format vertical sheets, often run with HardieTrim battens for a board-and-batten look. Popular on Florida-cracker and modern-farmhouse style rebuilds, and on accent walls paired with HardiePlank on the main elevations.
Fascia, corner boards, and window/door trim in matching fiber cement so the whole exterior envelope — not just the field siding — resists the same moisture and rot issues that eat wood trim in this climate.
This is the part homeowners ask about most, and it's worth explaining plainly instead of just saying "premium finish." ColorPlus is James Hardie's factory-applied color system. Instead of a board arriving primed white and getting painted on site (by us or anyone else), ColorPlus boards are coated in a controlled factory environment using a baked-on, multi-coat finish process before they ever reach the jobsite.
Why that matters in a coastal Florida climate specifically:
| Factor | ColorPlus (factory-applied) | Standard field-applied paint |
|---|---|---|
| Application environment | Controlled factory conditions | Jobsite weather-dependent |
| Typical repaint interval | Long-interval, color-matched touch-up only | Full repaint needed on a shorter cycle |
| Finish warranty | Separate manufacturer finish warranty | Paint manufacturer/applicator warranty only |
| Touch-up matching | Formulated to match the factory batch | Depends on paint retained/re-mixed |
We do still install primed HardiePlank for owners who have a specific custom color from a Florida-friendly paint line they want instead — that's a legitimate choice. But for most Dunedin projects, ColorPlus is the lower-maintenance path, and we'll walk you through both during the estimate.
"30-year warranty" gets thrown around loosely in this industry, so here's the honest breakdown of how James Hardie structures it, because it's actually two separate warranties stacked together.
The fiber cement board itself carries a non-prorated, transferable limited warranty — commonly 30 years on HardiePlank lap siding — covering the material against manufacturing defects like cracking or crumbling under normal use. It's backed by James Hardie directly, not by us as the installer, which is a meaningful distinction: if you sell the home, that warranty coverage can transfer to the new owner.
The factory finish itself carries its own separate, shorter-term limited warranty covering issues like peeling, cracking, or fading of the ColorPlus coating specifically. Primed boards that get field-painted don't carry this finish warranty — that coverage sits with whoever applies and warranties the paint instead.
Improper installation — wrong fastener spacing, missing clearances at grade or roof lines, sealant used where it shouldn't be — is the most common way a warranty claim gets denied industry-wide. That's the real reason installer experience matters as much as the product choice. A great product installed to spec by an inexperienced crew is still a problem waiting to happen.
James Hardie invented fiber cement siding as a category and has been the dominant manufacturer in it for decades, which matters practically in a few ways: replacement boards and matching ColorPlus finishes are still available years down the road if a section gets damaged, their technical documentation and installer training programs are extensive, and their manufacturing has the scale to run climate-specific product formulations rather than a one-size-fits-all board. When we tell a Dunedin homeowner "this is what we install," we're pointing at a company with a long track record backing the material, not a private-label product with thinner support behind it.
Dunedin sits right on Pinellas County's Gulf-facing edge, bordered by the Dunedin Causeway, Honeymoon Island, and St. Joseph Sound — which means salt air exposure is a real, daily factor for homes near the water, not a marketing talking point. Even inland toward Hammock Park and Alt 19, the humidity and intense UV load are constant. James Hardie engineers its siding to resist moisture absorption, won't rot or feed termites the way wood-based products can, and holds its shape and fastening through the freeze-thaw cycles we don't get here but does handle the wind-driven rain and pressure swings that come with Gulf storms.
Hurricane season (June through November) is the real test. Wind-driven rain doesn't just hit a wall — it gets pushed sideways and upward under trim and at penetrations if the install detailing is wrong. That's a Hardie-engineering point and an installation-detailing point equally, which is why our crews follow Hardie's published clearance and flashing specs on every job, whether it's a waterfront property or a inland street off Michigan Boulevard.
Every crew on a Hardie job has been trained specifically on James Hardie's install requirements — proper fastener type and spacing, correct clearance at the foundation and roofline, house-wrap and flashing sequencing before a single board goes up, and factory-matched caulking at butt joints and trim. We don't treat fiber cement like it's interchangeable with vinyl in terms of labor — it isn't. It's heavier, it needs different blades and fastener guns, and the tolerances for a clean, warranty-eligible install are tighter.
If you're planning a re-side or a new install in Dunedin and want to talk through the James Hardie product line, ColorPlus color options, or how the warranty applies to your specific home, we're happy to walk the exterior with you and put together a free, no-pressure estimate.
No. We install James Hardie fiber cement exclusively — we don't offer vinyl, LP SmartSide, or other engineered wood products. Standardizing on one manufacturer means our crews install to one set of specs and one warranty structure, which keeps quality consistent from job to job.
HardiePlank is horizontal lap siding and is what covers most of a typical home. HardieShingle mimics staggered cedar shake and is more often used as an accent on a gable, dormer, or porch feature rather than the whole house. Both are available in ColorPlus factory finishes.
Ask how they detail clearances at the foundation, roofline, and window openings, since improper spacing is the most common cause of denied warranty claims industry-wide. Confirm their Florida contractor license and ask directly whether fiber cement is a specialty or a side offering for them.
Homes closer to the water do face more constant salt exposure than inland streets, and rinsing the siding periodically helps regardless of material. ColorPlus's factory-baked finish is formulated to resist the sun bleaching and chalking that shows up faster on west- and south-facing coastal walls, which reduces how often you're dealing with visible wear compared to a standard field-painted board.
It costs more upfront than vinyl, but fiber cement doesn't warp, rot, or become brittle in high heat and UV the way some other materials can over time in this climate. For a Gulf Coast home dealing with humidity, storm season, and intense sun, that durability is a practical factor worth weighing against the lower sticker price of alternatives.