Does Chicago’s wintery weather have you shivering and wondering how your home is going to hold up? Sure, freshly fallen snow may look lovely, and the chill in the air may feel fun early in the season. But as a homeowner, you know that frigid temperatures and icy, wet winters can take a real toll, wearing down your home’s exterior and leaving your siding in need of care, or even replacement.
As a siding replacement contractor, our team of experts at Siding & Windows Group fields a lot of questions about what is best for Chicago homes. Fortunately, there’s a siding designed specifically to stand up long-term against ice, cold, and wind — James Hardie siding. In fact, this siding is so precisely made to handle super-cold weather that we recommend it as our go-to siding for Chicago area homeowners.
Here’s a closer look at how James Hardie siding offers long-lasting attractiveness and winter-resistant performance that keeps you loving your home year-round.
Why Homeowners Love James Hardie Siding
There’s no denying that siding is an investment, and it makes sense to choose the best. And James Hardie® fiber cement siding is number one among American homeowners for good reason. James Hardie siding provides tremendous benefits for your home.
- Lovely curb appeal — With a variety of styles, colors, and products, you can design exactly the look you want.
- Durable performance —James Hardie siding withstands moisture, weather, and pests for as much as 30-50 years when properly installed by a James Hardie Elite Preferred Contractor.
- Resistance to fire — Because fiber cement is made mainly of sand and cement fibers, it doesn’t contribute fuel to a fire. James Hardie is rated noncombustible, an advantage to any homeowner.
- Simple maintenance — Vinyl siding can get dented or faded. Wood easily rots and warps. But fiber cement resists these issues, keeping its appearance and form. Typically, all it needs is a simple rinse with a garden hose once a year.
- Return on investment — While fiber cement siding costs more than vinyl, it performs better long-term. Homeowners get their money’s worth when they choose James Hardie siding.
Engineered for Climate
All these advantages please homeowners, but there’s another aspect to James Hardie siding that especially appeals to those in the Chicago area — its ability to stand up to harsh winter weather. By engineering its siding to withstand the different climates found across the U.S., James Hardie is ensuring homeowners top-notch results. The better your siding stands up to your area’s weather, the longer it will retain its attractiveness and performance before you need to replace it again.
How do they achieve this? Enter the HardieZone system!
What Is the HardieZone System?
While most siding products are one size fits all in their design, James Hardie has gone the extra mile to ensure that homeowners can pick a siding that works best for their unique needs. And that includes attention to the weather. After all, the U.S. has many different climates — such as hot, dry deserts; hot, humid coasts; and wet, cold northern areas.
James Hardie has assessed how eight different weather elements affect their siding’s performance:
- Humidity
- Temperature range
- Rain
- Snow
- Hail
- Hurricanes
- UV exposure
- Topographical factors
Each region of the U.S., including Chicago, has different likelihoods of these climatic elements, and your siding is affected by that unique makeup. James Hardie has divided the U.S. into ten climatic areas and figured out how climate affects siding in those areas. Then they created siding to withstand the elements of these areas.
Knowing Your Region’s HardieZone
James Hardie has made it easy for homeowners to know which siding type fits your climate, based on their patented HZ5 and the HZ10 climate zone ratings.
- HZ5 — If your home falls in regions 1 through 5, as Chicago does, then you need the HZ5 siding, which stands up well against seasonal changes, cold temperatures, and wintery weather.
- HZ10 — For those who live in regions 6 through 10, the HZ10 siding performs well against heavy UV exposure, humidity, and strong winds.
The bottom line is, no matter where you live, there is a specific James Hardie siding type that will resist your area’s climate better than just about any other siding product around.
How HardieZone Siding Protects Chicago Area Homes
Living near the Great Lakes far to the north in the U.S. ensures Chicago area homeowners have to put up with a lot of climate elements that can be rough on a home — wind, moisture, snow, ice, temperature swings, and more.
By installing James Hardie’s fiber cement HardieZone siding panels, fascia, trim, and soffits, you’re ensuring your home can handle any type of weather that is common in the Chicago region. Dampness, ice, sleet, and other harsh weather changes may come, but your James Hardie siding will resist moisture damage, dents, scratches, rot, fading, and other issues so that your home exterior stays protected, attractive, and long-lasting.
And when installed by a siding replacement contractor that is also a James Hardie Elite Preferred Contractor, you can rest assured that the installation will be done to James Hardie’s high standards, so you get a beautiful home exterior that is protected by the impressive James Hardie warranty as well.
Choose Siding that Protects Your Home from the Cold
Chicago’s frigid, harsh winter weather doesn’t have to cause you problems as a homeowner. Protect your home’s exterior for years of top performance with HardieZone siding — America’s #1 trusted, climate-resistant siding that is designed to handle the cold with ease.
As a James Hardie Elite Preferred Contractor, our team is specifically trained and experienced in precision installations so your HardieZone siding is fitted to your home properly and performing exactly as it should. You enjoy peace of mind from top-notch products, installed right, for long-lasting results.
Getting started is a breeze. Simply contact us to receive a free estimate—and enjoy a home that looks and performs beautifully, inside and out.
