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I am interested in replacing wood panels with Hardie Board. The panels need to be painted to match the existing structure.

In this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfPIDZnpydo it seems that a lot of additional effort is expended for post-installation painting, instead of pre-painting. Id' like to understand why post-installation painting is the practice and not pre-installatio painting.

Is there any reason not to prepaint the board? It seems that it is easier to paint them in a controlled environment vs outdoors.

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    You might explain why you included a link to a YouTube video. I don't have the inclination to go watch videos at random. If you're referring to a particular point in the video, include the timestamp in the URL.
    – isherwood
    Jul 14, 2021 at 15:04
  • The video link should be replaced with a paragraph explaining what you are doing to provide context. You can upload a screengrab from it too, into your post, to help illustrate. But otherwise, I skimmed it and that video is not relevant.
    – P2000
    Jul 14, 2021 at 18:31

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Yes. Nails, cuts, and handling scuffs. They all should be painted over after installation for the best appearance.

Paint cuts that won't be accessible or sealed with caulk before installation, but wait with everything else.

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Pre-painting makes perfect sense. Skilled painters can paint in place, but this is a nightmare for the less skilled and less experienced. Many wall surface products now come painted from the factory. They are installed, and then there is only touch-up painting.

There is now nail hole filler colored to match the paint. Personally, I think Simpson stainless steel siding nails driven exactly flush look great without painting, or they can be touched up.

Another possibility for installing pre-finished wall boards, trim, or molding is to accentuate the fasteners and make them a design element. For this purpose you could use black finish screws for square driver. If the material needs a broader fastener head (like Hardiboard might), then you could use screws with "ring washers" (aka finishing washers) all in stainless or black.

EDIT I am thinking of finishing washers are for interior or roofed over exterior.

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  • I am 100% a novice painter (painted one bedroom prior to this over a decade ago) and I had absolutely no difficulty painting Hardie board cement fiber planks after it was installed as siding on my house. Absolutely nothing hard or nightmarish about it.
    – TylerH
    Jul 14, 2021 at 17:37
  • I have always painted my house in Texas heat myself. Leaning out, ten feet up on a ladder with an airless sprayer, worried about painting the neighbor's car, etc. Then cleaning up! Why do this if the product could be painted in the garage, in the shade? Or better yet painted at the factory, like the tin ceiling I put up in the kitchen
    – Jim Stewart
    Jul 14, 2021 at 17:56
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    For exactly the reasons isherwood stated, plus the boards may not fit in your garage. No problem with painting on a cloudy or cool day, either. Also, put the ladder closer and use a paintbrush if a sprayer or leaning out are problems. Finally, it's much faster to paint all the boards in one pass once they're up rather than paint a board at a time in a staging area, then let it dry, move it out of the way, paint the next one, etc.
    – TylerH
    Jul 14, 2021 at 17:57
  • There are good reasons to install exterior siding and then paint it in place. There are good reasons to paint it before installing. I was really thinking of interior paneling and ceilings like beadboard. I hate painting high up or on ceilings.
    – Jim Stewart
    Jul 14, 2021 at 18:03
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    I prefer to pre-paint facia but not siding. Climate and other working conditions (ladder, ceiling...). matter of course. It's more about how I can avoid taping and how I can better protect the wood by getting around and behind it. Then apply a final coat after installation.
    – P2000
    Jul 14, 2021 at 18:35

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