Redington Beach is a narrow strip of land between the Gulf of Mexico and Boca Ciega Bay, and that geography shapes everything about how a home's exterior should be built. Salt spray drifts across the island on the Gulf breeze, humidity sits in the high 80s and 90s for most of the summer, and every structure here takes direct hits from wind-driven rain during tropical storm and hurricane season, which runs June through November. Siding that looks good for a few years and then starts cupping, rotting, or losing paint isn't a good value no matter what it costs up front. That's why Alpine Exteriors installs HardiePlank lap siding — James Hardie's fiber cement lap product — as our standard for Redington Beach homes, and why we don't offer vinyl, LP SmartSide, or other engineered wood alternatives. This page focuses specifically on HardiePlank lap siding itself: the plank profiles, exposure options, how it compares to board-and-batten, the ColorPlus factory finish, and the installation detail that actually determines how it performs a few blocks from the water.
HardiePlank is James Hardie's lap siding product line — long, horizontal boards that overlap each other from the bottom of the wall up, the same basic look as traditional wood clapboard but built from fiber cement instead of wood fiber. The boards come in several width and texture combinations, and the choice affects both the look of the house and how it holds up.
"Exposure" is the portion of each board that's actually visible once it's installed — the rest is hidden behind the board above it. HardiePlank comes in several common widths, and the exposure shifts the character of the wall:
Texture is a separate choice from width. HardiePlank comes in smooth (a clean, painted-wood look) and cedarmill (a subtle wood-grain texture that reads more traditional from the street). Neither one performs differently — it's purely an aesthetic call, and we walk homeowners through both in person before ordering.
James Hardie engineers its products by climate zone, and Redington Beach falls in the HZ10 zone — Hardie's designation for hot, humid, high-moisture Gulf and Southeast coastal regions. HZ10 HardiePlank is formulated for better moisture and humidity resistance than the HZ5 product used in drier inland climates. We only order HZ10 for Redington Beach installs; it's the version engineered for exactly the conditions this island sees every summer.
Homeowners often ask us about board-and-batten — vertical panels with raised battens covering the seams — as an alternative to horizontal lap siding. Both are legitimate James Hardie profiles, and the right one depends on the house, not on which is "better."
| Factor | HardiePlank Lap Siding | Board-and-Batten (Vertical) |
|---|---|---|
| Visual style | Classic coastal cottage, craftsman, traditional | Modern farmhouse, contemporary, accent walls |
| Best use on Redington Beach homes | Full-elevation primary siding — most common choice here | Gable accents, porch walls, mixed-material facades |
| Water shedding | Overlapping boards shed rainwater downward by design | Relies on properly sealed and flashed vertical seams |
| Installation complexity | Standard, well-understood by most crews | Requires more precise batten spacing and fastening |
| Typical cost | Baseline | Slightly higher due to batten material and labor |
Most full-home installs we do in Redington Beach are HardiePlank lap siding, because the overlap detail is a proven, straightforward way to shed the kind of wind-driven rain this island sees during summer storms. Board-and-batten shows up most often here as an accent on a gable end, a porch wall, or paired with lap siding on a two-tone facade — a look we're happy to build out, but it's a design choice layered on top of a lap-siding foundation, not a wholesale substitute for it.
Every board of HardiePlank we install carries James Hardie's ColorPlus finish — a multi-coat, baked-on color process applied at the factory under controlled conditions, not a coat of paint rolled on after installation. On a barrier island, that distinction matters more than it does inland.
Field-applied paint on fiber cement has to fight salt air, UV exposure, and humidity swings from day one, and it's only as good as the weather conditions and prep work on the day it was applied. ColorPlus is cured in a factory environment specifically to resist fading and chipping in coastal climates, and it comes backed by its own 30-year, no-fade / no-peel limited warranty from James Hardie — separate from the substrate warranty. Touch-up paint formulated to match ColorPlus exactly is available for the rare ding or scratch, so a small repair doesn't turn into a visible patch. For a home a short walk from the Gulf, we consider ColorPlus the only sensible finish option — it's one less maintenance cycle to worry about in a climate that's hard on painted surfaces.
HardiePlank performs the way James Hardie engineered it to only when it's installed correctly, and the detail that gets skipped by rushed crews is exactly the detail that fails first in a coastal environment. This is where we spend the most time on every job.
Before the first board goes up, the wall gets a code-compliant weather-resistant barrier, and we detail a drainage plane behind the siding so any moisture that gets past the cladding has somewhere to go instead of sitting against the sheathing. On a home this close to salt water, that drainage gap is not optional — it's the difference between siding that dries out after a storm and sheathing that stays damp.
Every window head, door head, and horizontal trim transition gets proper flashing integrated with the weather barrier — not just caulked over. Caulk is a maintenance item that eventually fails; flashing is a permanent water path. We pay particular attention to butt joints between plank ends, which get flashed or, where the wall allows it, minimized with longer runs to reduce the number of seams altogether.
James Hardie specifies fastener type, size, and spacing by climate zone and wind exposure, and in a high-wind coastal zone like Redington Beach we follow the HZ10 fastening schedule — corrosion-resistant nails or screws at the specified spacing, driven flush (never overdriven, which crushes the board's fiber cement edge and creates a failure point). Boards are hung with the manufacturer-specified gap at butt joints and terminations to allow for the material's minor thermal movement, then sealed with a high-quality, paintable sealant rated for exterior use — not standard caulk.
The first course of siding sits on a starter strip that sets the correct kick-out angle for the whole wall — get this wrong and every course above it is slightly off, which shows up as an uneven shadow line by the time you're a few courses up. We also keep the bottom edge of the siding at the manufacturer's minimum clearance above grade, decks, and roof lines, since ground-level and roof-line splash-back is one of the most common causes of moisture problems on any lap siding installation, coastal or not.
| Factor | How It Affects Cost |
|---|---|
| Plank width / exposure | Wider boards can mean fewer courses but similar material cost; mostly a style decision |
| Smooth vs. cedarmill texture | Comparable pricing; choice is aesthetic |
| ColorPlus color selection | Standard ColorPlus palette is baseline; custom or premium colors can run slightly higher |
| Existing siding removal | Tear-off and disposal of old siding adds labor versus new construction |
| Wall complexity | Dormers, multiple gables, and cut-ins around windows increase labor time |
| House elevation | Elevated coastal homes with tall wall sections require more scaffolding/lift time |
| Trim and accent details | Board-and-batten accents, corner boards, and frieze detailing add to scope |
Every one of these is a real variable, which is why we walk the house in person and measure before giving a number — broad ballpark ranges from a stranger over the phone aren't useful to you.
Redington Beach sits on a strip of land rarely more than a few blocks wide, so almost every home here is exposed to Gulf salt air to some degree, whether it faces the water directly or backs up to Boca Ciega Bay on the other side. That salt exposure, combined with Pinellas County's long, humid summer and an active storm season, is exactly the environment James Hardie engineered the HZ10 product line to handle — moisture resistance that holds up to salt-laden air, and a substrate that doesn't rot, delaminate, or attract termites the way wood-based siding can in this climate. Homes on the west side of Gulf Boulevard, closer to the beach, see more direct salt spray and benefit from extra attention to fastener corrosion resistance and sealant quality at every joint. Homes closer to the bay side deal with slightly less direct spray but the same humidity and storm-wind exposure. Either way, wind-driven rain during a summer squall or tropical system is the real test of an installation — it's not the siding material that usually fails first, it's a flashing detail or a fastening shortcut that lets water behind the wall.
One of the practical advantages of fiber cement with a factory finish is how little upkeep it actually needs compared to painted wood. A simple annual routine keeps it performing:
Alpine Exteriors installs James Hardie fiber cement exclusively — we don't offer vinyl or LP SmartSide as alternatives, even though both are less expensive up front. That's a professional standard we hold to, not a knock on every product on the market. Vinyl siding can warp and fade under sustained UV and heat, and it's a poor performer in high-wind events compared to a mechanically fastened fiber cement board. Engineered wood products carry moisture-management requirements that are harder to guarantee long-term in a climate this humid. Fiber cement, installed correctly with the flashing and drainage detail described above, is the product we're willing to stand behind on a barrier island home. It's a heavier, more labor-intensive material to install than vinyl, which is part of why the upfront cost is higher — but it's also why we don't see HardiePlank homes coming back with the same warping, cracking, and fading complaints we hear about from homeowners who installed something else.
If you're planning a new siding project or replacing storm-damaged siding on your Redington Beach home, we're happy to walk the property, talk through plank width and color options in person, and give you a straight, honest estimate — no pressure, no hard sell. The form below gets you started.
Wood lap siding needs regular repainting and is prone to rot, insect damage, and warping in humid coastal climates. Fiber cement like HardiePlank is engineered specifically for moisture resistance, holds its factory finish far longer, and doesn't attract termites, which matters a lot this close to the Gulf.
Ask to see their Florida contractor license number, proof of insurance, and whether they're familiar with coastal flashing and fastening requirements specific to high-wind zones. Also ask who's actually on the crew doing the install, not just who sold you the job, since installation quality matters more than the material itself.
We standardized on James Hardie because of its consistent HZ10 climate-zone engineering for the Gulf Coast, the ColorPlus factory finish warranty, and the depth of installation documentation and support behind the product. Sticking with one manufacturer also means our crews are deeply practiced on its specific fastening and flashing requirements rather than switching methods between jobs.
HZ5 is formulated for drier, more moderate inland climates, while HZ10 is engineered specifically for hot, humid, high-moisture regions like the Gulf Coast. We order HZ10 for every Redington Beach installation because it's the version built for this exact climate.
Yes — we follow James Hardie's high-wind coastal fastening schedule, using corrosion-resistant fasteners at closer spacing than a standard inland installation calls for. We also put extra attention into flashing at window and door heads and butt joints, since wind-driven rain during Gulf storms is the real test of any siding installation here.