When the wood siding on our very old house started to rot away, everyone told us to reinstall new wood siding because that’s what buyers of old houses on the East Coast expect.
Clearly, “everyone” hasn’t had to maintain painted wood siding.
We decided to have Hardie® fiber cement siding installed instead because our priority for protecting our almost 250-year-old home was to make it fire-resistant, deter wood-eating pests, protect it from severe storms, and add resistance to moisture-induced rot. If an owner of an old house isn’t sleeping well, you know why. We have a lot to worry about!
Fiber cement siding protects our home from all of those things and it gave us added peace of mind.
The internet told us that Hardie® fiber cement siding “may reduce your home insurance premiums.”
The internet lied. Or very carefully used the word “may.”
I really wanted this claim to be true. We could use a cost reduction somewhere. Installing new siding isn’t cheap!
I hope for some lucky homeowners it does lower their insurance premiums, but not for us.
Please note that not one insurance company was making that suggestion online when I did my research. It was all siding companies suggesting that you might benefit from a cost reduction. Hmm.
How much did our home insurance change?
Switching from wood siding to Hardie® fiber cement siding RAISED our insurance by $78 per year.
The reason our insurance company cited was that it costs more to replace fiber cement siding than wood siding if we make an insurance claim. I’m sure risk is factored in somewhere, but our insurance company appeared to be mainly looking at the total cost to rebuild our property if it was destroyed to rubble.
What I took away from this as a homeowner and not an insurance expert is if adding Hardie® fiber cement or any brand of fiber cement siding changes the rebuild cost of your home, it’s probably going to change your premium too.
Here’s the twist on the story.
We also installed 12 new windows at the time the Hardie® fiber cement siding was installed. That window replacement LOWERED our home insurance by $78 per year.
I do not understand insurance logic.
It is a black hole of mystery to me.
Long story short, our insurance premium remained unchanged. It probably helped that we are insured for slightly more (by choice) than the estimated cost to rebuild from the ground up.
Not telling your insurance company about upgrades could cost you more in the long run.
If you upgrade your siding to Hardie® fiber cement siding or any other type of siding and don’t tell your insurance company about the change, you’re still insured.
You just might not be covered for everything you’ll need to replace your siding should something disastrous happen. That would be like adding insult to injury and no one wants that.
At least, that’s how my insurance company explained our situation to me. Your insurance company may operate differently and there may be other variables in play, so it’s in your interest to find out and not take my word for it. While our experience is true for us, your situation may be different. Verify, verify, verify.
Now that it is all said and done, we are so happy with how our siding turned out and glad we were finally able to check that much needed project off of the to-do list.
Has changing your siding affected your insurance premiums? How about windows? I’m curious to know! Please leave a comment on this blog post, email us here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.
P.S. The folks at James Hardie do not know who I am. This post is not sponsored in any way, shape, or form, but I wish it was. Ha!
P.P.S. We have the pre-painted Hardie® fiber cement siding in Arctic white. I can’t speak to how well it holds up over time yet. As of the time these pictures were taken, I hadn’t decided on a trim color.
Thanks for being here today. If you’d like another blog post to read, I’ve got you covered.
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