North Redington Beach is a narrow strip of land — Gulf Boulevard runs the spine of it, with the Gulf of Mexico on one side and Boca Ciega Bay a few blocks the other way. A house here rarely sits more than a five-minute walk from saltwater, whether it faces the beach directly or backs up to the intracoastal side. That geography is exactly why we install HardiePlank lap siding and nothing else — no vinyl, no LP SmartSide, no engineered wood. Fiber cement is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber pressed and cured into a board that doesn't warp in humidity, doesn't feed termites, and doesn't soften under constant salt-laden air. This page goes deep on the plank itself — the profiles, the exposure widths, the lap-versus-batten decision, the ColorPlus factory finish, and what correct installation actually looks like on a Pinellas County barrier island lot.
"HardiePlank" is the lap siding product line specifically — long horizontal boards that overlap each other down the wall, each course covering the top of the one below it. Two things define how a HardiePlank installation will read from the street: the surface texture and the exposure width.
Select Cedarmill has a wood-grain texture pressed into the face, mimicking cedar clapboard. Smooth is a flat, painted-drywall-style face. Neither is more durable than the other — it's purely a look decision. On the older Florida ranch and coastal-cottage homes common around North Redington Beach, we see Cedarmill chosen most often because it reads as traditional beach-town siding without looking plastic. Smooth tends to go on more modern, clean-lined builds, especially newer construction closer to the bay side where homeowners want a crisper silhouette.
Exposure is the portion of each board that's actually visible once the next course overlaps it — commonly 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.25 inches depending on the plank width ordered. A narrower exposure (4–5 inches) gives a tighter, more detailed shadow line and reads as classic cottage siding; it also means more courses, more fastening rows, and a slightly higher labor cost per square. A wider exposure (7–8.25 inches) covers the wall faster, costs less in labor, and suits larger or more contemporary homes where a bolder horizontal line looks intentional rather than busy. We size exposure to the house, not the other way around — a two-story home with tall walls can carry a wide exposure without looking plain, while a single-story bungalow usually looks better with a tighter reveal.
HardiePlank lap is the horizontal overlapping board most people picture when they hear "siding." James Hardie's board-and-batten system is a different animal entirely — wide vertical panels with narrow battens covering the seams, giving a farmhouse or modern-vertical look. Both are fiber cement, both carry the same weather resistance, and both are options we install. The decision comes down to style, not performance.
| Factor | HardiePlank Lap | Board-and-Batten |
|---|---|---|
| Visual line | Horizontal shadow lines, traditional coastal look | Vertical lines, farmhouse or modern look |
| Best fit locally | Beach cottages, ranch homes, most of North Redington Beach's housing stock | Accent gables, porch fronts, newer builds wanting a modern accent |
| Install complexity | Straightforward horizontal courses, well understood by every crew | More cutting and batten alignment, slightly more labor per square |
| Common use here | Full-house siding | Accent walls, gables, mixed with lap on the field |
A lot of the homes we work on around here use lap for the main body of the house and a small board-and-batten accent on a front gable or entry feature — it breaks up a flat elevation without turning the whole house into a farmhouse.
Every HardiePlank board we install can be ordered as ColorPlus — color baked onto the board in Hardie's factory using a multi-coat, oven-cured finish, rather than field-painted after installation. For a house sitting in constant sun and salt aerosol, that distinction matters more here than almost anywhere inland. Field-applied paint on any siding material starts fading and chalking from UV and salt exposure years before a factory finish does, and it needs recoating on a maintenance cycle the homeowner has to track and pay for. ColorPlus comes with a substantially longer color-warranty period than a field paint job would carry, the color runs consistent because it's applied and cured under controlled conditions rather than by hand on a ladder, and touch-up paint is available pre-matched for any nick that happens during or after installation. We still offer primed boards for field painting when a homeowner wants a custom color outside Hardie's ColorPlus palette, but for a straightforward re-side on this island, ColorPlus is what we recommend first.
Lap siding fails prematurely almost never because the board itself degraded — it fails because of how it was hung. On a barrier island, the margin for sloppy installation is thinner than inland, because wind-driven rain and salt find every gap.
HardiePlank needs a minimum clearance above grade, roofing, decks, and paved surfaces so the bottom edge of the board isn't sitting in standing water or splash-back. We flash every window and door head, every horizontal trim transition, and every point where a lower roofline meets a wall — this is where the overwhelming majority of siding-related water intrusion actually starts, not through the field of the wall itself.
Boards get fastened per Hardie's published schedule for the local wind zone, with corrosion-resistant fasteners driven at the correct location on the board — not too high, not too low, and never fastened through the overlap into the board beneath in a way that restricts the board's normal expansion and contraction. Pinellas County's coastal areas fall inside a wind-borne debris region under the Florida Building Code, which affects fastening requirements near the coast; we follow the manufacturer's high-wind installation instructions on every job here regardless of how far the specific lot sits from the water.
A proper starter strip at the base of the wall sets the first course at the correct kick-out angle so water sheds away from the wall face rather than running behind it. Butt joints between boards get backed with flashing tape or a rain-screen-appropriate detail rather than caulked and hoped for — caulk alone is not a seam-sealing method we rely on, because it's the first thing UV and salt exposure break down.
Hurricane season runs June through November, and a barrier island home takes the brunt of it before storms even reach the mainland side of Pinellas County. Correctly installed HardiePlank is rated to hold up under significant wind pressure, but "correctly installed" is doing the work in that sentence — the fastening schedule, the clearance, and the flashing details above are what keep a wall system intact when wind is driving rain sideways into it for hours. We also see homes here that took on moisture damage behind old siding long before a named storm — chronic salt-air exposure and small gaps do slow damage every year, storm or not, which is often the real reason a homeowner calls us about re-siding in the first place.
One reason we only install fiber cement is how little upkeep it asks for compared to the alternatives, but "low-maintenance" isn't "no-maintenance," especially this close to open water.
| Factor | How It Affects Cost |
|---|---|
| Exposure width chosen | Narrower exposure means more courses and more fastening labor per square foot |
| Finish | ColorPlus carries a material premium over primed-for-field-paint boards, offset by skipping a paint job |
| Substrate condition | Rotted sheathing or old furring strips found during tear-off add repair scope before new siding goes up |
| Wall complexity | Gables, dormers, and multiple trim transitions add cutting time versus a simple rectangular elevation |
| Access | Tight island lots with limited setback or shared driveways can slow staging and add labor time |
We give a firm number after walking the specific house — a straight-wall single-story home and a two-story home with multiple gables and dormers are not the same project, even at identical square footage.
If you're weighing HardiePlank lap siding for a home in North Redington Beach — whether it's a straight re-side, storm repair, or a full exterior refresh — we're happy to walk the house with you, talk through exposure width and finish options, and give you a clear, no-pressure estimate. There's a form below to get that conversation started.
The core material — cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — is similar across fiber cement manufacturers, but the manufacturing process, warranty terms, and factory finish options differ by brand. James Hardie is the manufacturer we install exclusively, in part because of the ColorPlus factory-finish system and the depth of published installation guidance for coastal wind zones. We don't install other fiber cement brands, so we can't make a direct product-by-product comparison, but we can speak in detail to why Hardie's system fits this climate.
Ask whether they follow Hardie's published fastening schedule for your specific wind zone, how they flash window and door heads, and what clearance they hold above roofing, decking, and grade. Ask to see their Florida contractor license number and confirm it's active. A contractor who can't answer the flashing and clearance questions specifically, rather than in general terms, likely isn't installing to the standard the product actually requires.
Not if you order it as ColorPlus, which arrives factory-finished and ready to install with no field painting required. If you choose primed boards instead, for a custom color outside the ColorPlus palette, then yes, field painting is required after installation and on a repaint cycle afterward.
Vinyl siding hangs loosely on a nailing hem to allow for thermal expansion and typically doesn't require the same flashing detail at every trim transition. HardiePlank is a rigid, fastened board that requires correct clearance, flashing, and a wind-zone-appropriate fastening schedule to perform as designed — it's a more exacting installation, which is part of why it holds up longer in this climate.
Flood zone designation mainly governs what happens below the base flood elevation line and generally doesn't restrict re-siding the above-grade walls of an existing home. Setback rules matter more if a project involves rebuilding or extending a wall rather than resurfacing it. We check the specific parcel before scoping any job so there are no surprises once work starts.