James Hardie Scalloped Siding Review

If it’s time to replace the siding on your home and you’re curious about James Hardie siding or decoratively scalloped siding, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post we’ll answer some of the questions you may have about James Hardie and decorative siding.

Let’s start with something simple.

What is Scallop Siding?

Scallop siding is a type of shingle siding that happens to have a scallop-shaped edge. As you explore your siding options and when you drive through different cities and neighborhoods you may notice there is a lot of variety and decorative elements are likely more noticeable than material differences.

Scallop siding is very popular among homeowners who want to add a delicate and decorative element to their exterior home design. Some shingle styles are commonly used to cover entire walls but scallop shaped shingles typically are used decorative elements on select portions of the house's exterior. In the image at the top of this article, you can see it's used on gables and portions of walls.

Also referred to as a half-round shingles, scalloped shingles have softly curved edges and look very similar to fish scale shingles. Not all of these styles are available by all manufacturers so if you see one you're more curious about you'll have to visit individual siding manufacturer websites to see what's offered. James Hardie offers half-round and straight-edge (square) or staggered-edge (square) shingle siding. Examples of decorative shingle shape options: arrow, diamond, fishscale, halfcove, hexagonal, octogonal, half-round, and sqaure.

Shingle siding was used in early New England construction and reappeared on 19th-century Shingle Style and Queen Anne style homes. See modern examples below.

Example of a modern shingle style house with cedar shake siding

^{Shingle Style House}

Example of a Victorian or Queen Anne style house with decorative shingle siding.

^{Queen Anne/Victorian Style House}

What is James Hardie Scalloped Siding Made Of?

Scallop siding and other decorative shingle siding is offered by a variety of manufacturers. James Hardie is a popular option. Since the introduction of their fiber cement siding products in the 1990s, James Hardie has become a leading manufacturer in the siding industry.

If you’re interested in learning about particular products you can view James Hardie’s HardieShingle Siding options on our website. Siding styles include Staggered Edge Panels, Straight Edge Panels, Individual Panels, and Half-Round Panels which is what you’ll need to create a scallop siding design.

James Hardie Scallop siding is made from fiber cement. Fiber cement is a composite building material made of cement and reinforced with cellulose fibers. James Hardie fiber cement products are used in both commercial and domestic applications.

Fiber cement is a popular siding material because it is resistant to termites, doesn’t rot, is impact resistant, and has fireproof properties. Hardie fiber cement products do require maintenance but it's a longer lasting material than OSB (flakeboard) and vinyl. You can see in the image below that vinyl materials are susceptible to warping and cracking and flakeboard materials are prone to swelling when it makes contact with water.

Chart comparison of james hardie, strand board, and vinyl siding.

Compared to vinyl products fiber cement is more durable. James Hardie fiber cement is up to 5x thicker than vinyl siding and offers greater defense against fire than exterior vinyl.

Fiber cement sidings are great for decorative options because the thicker material can be manufactured with textured finishes.

Can James Hardie Scallop Siding Be Used on Walls and Gables?

Yes! James Hardie scalloped siding absolutely appropriate for use on both walls and gables. This material is durable and heavy so professionals should take care of the installation.

Depending on your preference shingle siding can be used as the only siding style on your home or you can use it as a decorative element on select sections. Typically we see decorative shingles like scallops on gables.

Can I use scallop shingles on my house?

Yes! Although, you might really want to consider if it happens to fit your home’s architecture. If your home is more of a traditional ranch house, you might want to avoid any type of shingle in your design, well except for the roof.

Example of scallop shingles oddly installed on simple ranch style house.

^{We don't recommend this look. (above)}

Check out these examples of homes with scallop/half-round style shingles for some inspiration:

Decorative scallop siding on gables of mixed material facade modern home.

Example of house with simple scallop siding on front gable.

Example of home with scallop shingle siding and scallop shingle roof.

How much does scallop siding cost?

The cost of your Hardie scallop siding project will depend on the scope of your project. Below is a list comparison of general installed price James Hardie siding with its competitors: