Dunedin sits right on St. Joseph Sound, with Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island a short causeway ride away, which means most homes here get a steady diet of Gulf breeze whether they're two blocks from the water or two miles inland. That breeze carries salt, and salt is hard on building materials that weren't designed for it. Add Pinellas County's long, humid summers, near-daily afternoon storms in the wet season, and the real possibility of a tropical system every hurricane season, and you've got a climate that will find every weakness in a siding product within a few years. We've seen what happens to the wrong materials in this environment, which is why Alpine Exteriors installs James Hardie fiber cement siding exclusively — no vinyl, no LP SmartSide, no engineered wood panels. This page walks through why, and what it actually looks like to re-side a Dunedin home the right way.
We get asked fairly often why we don't offer cheaper alternatives. The honest answer is that we've made a professional judgment call about what holds up in this specific climate, and we'd rather turn away a job than install something we don't trust to perform.
Vinyl is a petroleum-based product, and it behaves like one in direct Florida sun — it expands and contracts more than fiber cement across a hot afternoon and a cooler night, which over years works fasteners loose and opens gaps at seams. In a wind-driven rain event, which is standard for a Dunedin thunderstorm, those gaps are exactly where water gets behind the panel. Vinyl also softens and can warp when it sits against a dark surface in full sun for years, which rules out a lot of the deeper accent colors homeowners want on a Florida Craftsman or bungalow.
Engineered wood siding is wood-based at its core, meaning it's a strand or fiber product bonded with resin. It performs well in drier climates, but wood-based products are inherently more sensitive to sustained moisture exposure than a cement-based product, and sustained moisture is exactly what a Gulf-coast summer delivers. Edge swelling at cut ends and seams is the common failure point, and it shows up faster in a coastal humidity load than it would inland.
James Hardie siding is roughly 90% Portland cement, sand, and cellulose fiber. It doesn't expand and contract the way vinyl does, it isn't vulnerable to the moisture-driven swelling that affects wood-based products, and it's manufactured with a HZ5 formulation specifically engineered for hot, humid climates — which includes Florida. It also carries a Class A fire rating and stands up to wind-driven rain and airborne salt far better than the alternatives. That's the whole case in a nutshell: we install what we've found actually lasts here, not what's cheapest to install.
Dunedin doesn't have one dominant house style, and that matters for how we approach a project. The downtown core and the streets around Edgewater Drive have a good number of 1920s through 1950s Florida bungalows and cottages, many with the deep porches and simple, low-slung rooflines typical of that era. Farther out toward the Dunedin Country Club and the newer developments off Alt 19, you'll find mid-century ranch homes and more recent construction with cleaner, larger wall planes. Each of these calls for a different board profile and detailing approach, and matching the siding to the house — rather than defaulting to whatever's easiest to install — is a big part of getting a re-side that actually looks like it belongs on the home.
James Hardie makes several distinct product lines, and the right one depends on your home's architecture as much as your budget.
| Product | Best fit | Look |
|---|---|---|
| HardiePlank lap siding | Bungalows, cottages, ranch homes — the majority of Dunedin's older neighborhoods | Traditional horizontal lap, smooth or cedar-textured |
| HardiePanel vertical siding | Gable accents, porch soffits, modern builds | Clean vertical lines, often paired with lap siding |
| HardieShingle siding | Cottage-style homes, dormers, accent gables | Staggered or straight-edge shingle profile |
| HardieTrim boards | Corners, window and door surrounds, fascia | Crisp, paintable trim that won't rot at cut ends |
Most Dunedin projects use HardiePlank for the primary wall surface, with HardieShingle or HardiePanel worked in on gables or accent areas to break up a large facade — a detail that reads well on the mid-century ranch homes that make up a lot of the housing stock near the Dunedin Country Club.
Fiber cement is only as good as its installation, and this is where a lot of siding jobs quietly fail in a coastal climate — not because the product was wrong, but because the details behind it were rushed.
Salt air accelerates corrosion on standard fasteners. We use corrosion-resistant, hot-dipped galvanized or stainless fasteners rated for coastal exposure, and we follow James Hardie's fastening pattern exactly — under-fastening is one of the most common causes of siding failure in wind events.
Behind every board is a water-resistive barrier and flashing detail designed to manage the moisture that will inevitably find its way toward the wall during a summer storm. Window and door flashing, kick-out flashing at roof-wall intersections, and proper weep paths are not optional extras — they're the difference between a wall assembly that sheds water and one that traps it.
James Hardie specifies minimum clearances from grade, roofing, and decks, and we hold to those even when it means a slightly different reveal than a homeowner initially pictured. We also use paintable, high-quality sealant at joints and penetrations rather than the cheapest tube on the shelf, since it's one of the first things to fail in intense UV exposure.
Every home is different, but the cost of a re-siding project in this area is generally driven by a handful of factors.
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Home size and story count | More square footage and second-story access both add labor time |
| Existing siding removal | Tear-off of old wood, aluminum, or vinyl adds a demolition and disposal step |
| Underlying sheathing condition | Water damage found once old siding comes off may need repair before new siding goes on |
| Board profile mix | Combining lap, shingle, and panel products for architectural accents costs more than a single profile |
| Trim and detail work | Porch columns, window surrounds, and gable detailing on bungalow-style homes add finish time |
| Color and finish | Factory-applied ColorPlus finish costs more upfront than field-painted but resists Florida UV fade longer |
We'll walk your specific home and give you a real number based on what we find — not a rough per-square-foot rule that ignores your home's actual condition.
James Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on at the factory and backed by its own finish warranty, which is a real advantage in a place where UV exposure is intense nearly year-round. If your home is in one of Dunedin's designated historic districts near downtown, there may be review guidelines around color and profile that we'll help you navigate before work starts, since approval can affect your timeline. HOA communities around the golf course and newer subdivisions often have their own exterior guidelines too, and we'll check those with you up front rather than after materials are ordered.
Fiber cement is genuinely low-maintenance compared to wood or vinyl, but "low-maintenance" isn't "no-maintenance" — a once-a-year walk-around catches small issues before they become expensive ones.
We're licensed (FL RB29003900) and we've built our process around getting the details right the first time — proper tear-off, sheathing inspection, correct flashing, and a fastening schedule that matches what James Hardie actually specifies for coastal exposure. If you're weighing a re-side in Dunedin, whether it's a downtown bungalow or a newer home near the causeway, we're happy to come take a look, walk you through what we find, and put together a straightforward, no-pressure estimate using the form below.
Fiber cement is cement-based rather than plastic or wood-based, so it doesn't expand and contract with heat the way vinyl does and isn't prone to the moisture-driven swelling that affects wood or engineered-wood products. That matters in Dunedin specifically because homes here deal with salt air, high humidity, and wind-driven rain nearly year-round, which exposes weaknesses in less durable materials faster than in a drier climate.
Confirm the contractor holds an active Florida license (you can verify it through the state licensing board), carries liability insurance, and pulls a permit for the work rather than skipping that step. Ask specifically how they handle flashing and fastening for coastal wind exposure, since that's where corners tend to get cut and where failures actually start.
HardiePlank is a horizontal lap siding board, the traditional look you'll see on most bungalows and ranch homes around Dunedin. HardiePanel is a single vertical sheet product, more often used as an accent on gables or paired with lap siding on more modern facades, so the choice usually comes down to your home's architectural style rather than performance.
If you choose the factory-applied ColorPlus finish, it's baked on and backed by its own finish warranty, so it doesn't need repainting on the same schedule as field-painted siding. If you choose primed siding that we paint on-site, it follows a normal exterior paint maintenance schedule, which in Dunedin's UV and salt exposure tends to be sooner than it would be further inland.
Homes in Dunedin's designated historic areas near downtown may be subject to design review for exterior changes, including siding profile and color, and some HOA communities around the golf course and newer subdivisions have their own exterior guidelines. We check whichever applies to your property before ordering materials so it doesn't hold up your project midstream.