Some chipped areas show wood pulp. Builder said it was a Hardie product. I can’t find any Hardie product besides fiber cement.
I’m in Louisville, KY area. They used all the installation flashings and procedures common with Hardie fiber cement installations.
Does anyone know what it would be and who would make it?
Maybe LP Smartside
Looks cheaper than that. The one picture is really particle board like.
You can call out the lack of z flashing on the horizontal joint at the corner,
and point out the plastic strip between boards will rot in the sun.
The entire thing is vertical mulch, probably good for the garden in a few years. Flipper crap that won’t last.
I would call it composite board siding. If know the manufacturer state that in your report.
The trim board isn’t Hardie. Fiber composite.
Your photo of the chipped edge at the butt joint doesn’t look like fiber cement, but tough to be sure.
Square edge Hardie is sold through Home Depot and Lowes.
Round edge Hardie plank is sold directly from Hardie distributors.
Certainteed fiber cement planking which is in a class action, has a square edge.
CanAxel type of composite boards.
No, they did not. 
However, the “H” clips used for seam treatment are common to Hardie; I am not sure what other manufacturers use them.
That is most likely LP Smartside.
LP calls it “engineered wood siding,” but it can also be referred to as hardboard, pressed wood, or even just “wood” siding.
And most inspectors call NM Cable: “Romex”.
Were there any knots in the siding similar to this,
If it’s LP then there will be knots like this with the letters L & P stamped into them. If not, then it’s another brand. Definitely not cement board though.
Looks like big box wood fiber, most of it is garbage.
I don’t know if LP uses that “knot” anymore. I can’t say for sure though. But they used that a long time ago, during the recall years.
Here is a pic off their website of their woodgrain product.
I’ve seen it in the last year a couple of times on job sites. Could have been older stock that suppliers had on hand though. Anything is possible I suppose…
Yeah, I was wondering. I can’t say I’ve been looking for it, so wasn’t sure. I have Smartside on my home, but it is the smooth stuff with no woodgrain.
LP wood composite (aka crap). I wouldn’t put that stuff on a doghouse. I started inspecting in 2000 and all the houses built in the 90s were being resided (most under some lawsuit settlement money). The same product has been rebranded, reengineered, reworked, etc., etc., but it’s still the same crap. It lasts better in some regions but in the soggy Pac NW it was (and is) a disaster. I suppose if you consider a siding product 25 years like a roof it’s okay but I don’t think most owners/buyers/inspectors/agents really think a house needs to be resided every 25 years.
Works great in my area, as long as it is installed correctly. YMMV.
