Hardie Panel installed on interior walls

[bjbTay]

Has anyone tried to finish the smooth Hardie Panel on interior walls using the mesh tape, but only skim coating the seams with mud rather than using plaster over the entire wall to keep the cost down?

For drywall I usually use Durham's Hard Rock, or Fixall mixed into the first coat of mud for added strength and to prevent cracking out, (an old drywaller shared that tip with me years ago) after that step I proceed with the additional coats of mud for a smooth finish. Couldn't this method work on the Hardie panel to keep the cost similar to drywall installation?

It appears that the Hardie panel costs about the same as the paperless drywall. I know it is a little more labor to cut the Hardie panel, but with only taping the seams at least that aspect of the install would be the same, or am I missing something here?

Thank you,
Barbara

[Rob Tucker]

It's a matter of the quality of the finished product.

Just taping the seams rarely produces a good result with drywall unless a very experienced finisher is involved. To make up for simple lack of workmanship drywall is often spattered with stuff or troweled with stuff to develop enough texture to hide the imperfections. To get a good "smooth wall" finish on drywall it is best to skim coat the wall. Otherwise your paint will be adhering to different surfaces - paper and drywall mud and the difference will be noticeable. Then to overcome the lack of time and effort on the drywall finishing the painter will be adding coats of paint. Another case of trying to save a nickel costing a dollar.

Usually it is the spec builders looking for the absolutely cheapest way to do the minimum amount of work. They don't have to live with it.

So my answer would be no on just taping the joints of either drywall or cement board. I recommend a thin skim coat on either material.

[Carey]

We are doing our interior walls with the smooth Hardie Panel (the main reason was the thickness of the product - it was a perfect replacement for the product that was in our SIP channels...)

When we started this house remodel project all those YEARS ago, many were not so sure of using the product as an interior finish.... but now some higher end homes are using the product for the resistance to moisture, mold & mildew (who knew! well we did... but the fit was the reason we used it))

Trail & Error - 1st method: mesh tape & normal joint compound produced a smooth joint, but potential for sanding off the mesh tape when smoothing joint was present (& done more than a couple of times, my bad!)
2nd & current method: mesh tape & a skim coat of thinset over the joint area, then feathering in joint compound - no mesh tape sand-offs yet (could be that with each room we are gaining more expertise, or the new system is mo'betta).

ETA: The Hardie Panel does not show the joint compound transition any where near as much as paper backed products like green board & drywall.

[DanielP]

One problem to be aware of when smooth coating interior walls is with lighting; any lighting, up, down, or across, that is shining near parallel to the plane of the wall will accentuate any irregularities in, not only the surface material, but with any framing irregularities as well.

Textured walls are used, not only to save $ or hide mistakes, but as an architectural feature. I love our heavily textured walls. They look like Monstera leaves all over the room.

Dan

[bjbTay]

Thank you Rob, Carey and Daniel,

I forgot about the experience factor, and thus quality of the work. No way will I have that splatter finish, what is the use of having a custom home if you put that stuff on the walls. This is a job I don't really want to do, but maybe I will have to, to get a good job. Our Hermosa house is all plaster, so with all of the renovations we did, I am now very experienced with a hock and trowel. Plus mesh tapping too, oh so many crackes to fix!!! We also covered over our open beam ceiling in our Master Bedroom with drywall so I have experience there as well. Yes, Rob your right it takes a lot of coats of paint to get an even coverage, and most likely I will be doing the painting.

Thank you all, at least now I know it is possible to tape the Hardie panel, but whether we could find someone to do it right is another question. Now you have me I wondering, if the drywallers can't do a decent job of taping and sanding smooth, then I would think having them skim coat the entire wall would only mean more irregularities to fix. Although maybe we have them do the first couple of coats over the tapping and then I have less to do to make it right. That may be the answer for us. I will also have to take into account the cost of good paint and how many coats it will take, maybe the skim coat would be cheaper....

Gosh, I can see we are going to have to think about this. My husband does not want the finishing of the house to become an on going job, as it is not his fortay.

Good luck Carey, sounds like you figured it out! Are you doing your ceilings too? That is so hard on the neck!

Thanks again everyone,
Barbara Taylor

Hawaii Dreaming

[Carey]

Just walls (the SIP channels are in the walls)

[csgray]

Smoothing down mudded walls as you go with a great big wet sponge saves amazing amounts of time when sanding later. A contractor friend of ours showed me that trick when he did some remodeling for us. The walls he did were the only smooth ones we had. I really do have to agree with how much lighting can show up every little glitch too.

Carol

[mella l]

quote:

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Originally posted by DanielP

One problem to be aware of when smooth coating interior walls is with lighting; any lighting, up, down, or across, that is shining near parallel to the plane of the wall will accentuate any irregularities in, not only the surface material, but with any framing irregularities as well.

Textured walls are used, not only to save $ or hide mistakes, but as an architectural feature. I love our heavily textured walls. They look like Monstera leaves all over the room.

Dan

---

Photos please!!

I love the look of the wall texture, I believe is called Tuscany does anyone know of this texture?

mella l

NO really! I don't, want to read your blog!

[bjbTay]

Carol, Thank you for reminding me of this. I have used a wet sponge. I will put it into my notes, so I don't forget!

Carol, who is the contractor that did the work for you? Sounds like someone who knows his stuff and cares about the finished product.

From my experience, the wet sponge works the best when the mud is pretty much set up. I was also using it between with each coat of mud. If the mud is not set the surface is too plyable and the sponge will leave marks of it's own. Even though the mud is dry, the surface softens quickly with water and then only the very surface is what gets smoothed out.

Carey this is a trick you could use. Like Carol said it really works, not only is there less sanding, there is not as much sanding dust either. If you use a shop vac to clean up be sure to get as much of the dust up with a broom before using the shop vac and clean the filter often. The fine dust will ruin the motor quickly. (Yeah, my bad...it was plaster dust the did our NEW vac in, after that I was more careful!)

Thanks again Carol,
Barbara

[csgray]

Barbara,
He is a cabinet maker and contractor in Oregon and a dear friend, we were pretty much the last people he would do residential remodeling for, although he would probably love a working trip to Hawaii next winter.

Carol