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“With the Hardie board, you see a pretty significant increase in costs. You can invest in that, but when you factor in the likelihood of another intense storm, it’s worth taking this step, ”Hahn asks rhetorically.

While homeowners are considering what to replace damaged siding with, renovators offer a few options. Some insurance companies allow upgraded materials with the cost difference being paid for by the homeowner.

According to Jody Roberts, general manager of SIS Exterior Renovations in Calgary, Hardie boards are roughly twice as expensive to install as vinyl siding, considering labor costs. He has been inundated with cries for help and his sales team is booked for two weeks by homeowners keen to know their options.

He says there are thicker vinyl products that also cost more, but believes Hardie Board would have stood up.

“It costs twice as much now, but in 10, 20 or 30 years it will look the same as it does now. No fading, no melting while grilling. It also has a resale value, ”says Roberts.

As an example of pricing, the average two story home is 2,600 square feet of exterior wall. To replace the damaged siding with a new vinyl siding – including tearing down the damaged vinyl, reshaping, and installing the new vinyl – the cost is anywhere from $ 15,000 to $ 16,000. The same amount of work with Hardie as a replacement would be anywhere from $ 26,000 to $ 27,000. Another point of view is that it costs around $ 6 per square foot for vinyl and $ 10 per square foot for Hardie cement board.

But Ultimate Renovations’ Danny Ritchie, who started his business because of the huge volume of work he took on after the infamous September 7, 1991 hail, believes that storm destroyed anything but brick or stone.

“If this storm had broken windows, it would have broken off stucco and cracked the Hardie board. Nothing would have stopped it at this rate, except maybe stone, and that’s very expensive. Now if someone has vinyl I could just go back to the vinyl siding, ”says Ritchie.