The Hardie Plank siding is falling off my house. Two years ago, we noticed a couple of loose boards. The Kavenaugh representative came out, look at the siding from a distance and said, “When you have the house painted, have them put a couple of nails in.”
In the last two years, we went from a couple of boards to about 100. The house looks like it’s 75 years old. When I contacted John Kavenaugh, the response was that I should have been “caulking and painting the siding every year.”
I did research on Hardie Plank and just about every site says, “It’s a bear to put up, but if installed properly, it lasts forever.” I could not find any negative comments about the product.
I called the James Hardie company about their 50-year guarantee, and they sent someone out to look at it. Their response is that the warranty is null and void since the product was not installed properly. This assessment is confirmed by an independent contractor.
We contacted John Kavenaugh again sending them the Hardie company letter and their response was that the massive failures on the house was due to lack of maintenance. They even admitted (in writing) that they never primed the paint before painting. They say that they will take no further action on this request. All this was done from the comfort of their office.
In their letter they stated that they contacted the Hardie Company and the Hardie Company said that the fault was due to lack of maintenance. We contacted the Hardie Company and not only did they NOT say that, they said that John Kavenaugh’s representative told them that “We don’t understand how it got this far. We offered to fix it.” Of course neither my wife nor I have any recollection of this generous offer, and I doubt that Kavenaugh could come up with any paperwork that vaugely alludes to this alledged offer.
So it now comes to legal action. I have to pay a lawyer to get John Kavenaugh’s attention. I doubt that Mr. Kavenaugh is even aware of our compaint personally.
