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James Hardie Fence Installation: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
James Hardie fence installation in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $3,500 – $9,000, and we stock the panels, posts, rails, and fasteners needed to do the job right the first time. Most homeowners discover they need us when a fence section starts leaning after a storm, a bottom rail splits from ground contact, or the neighbor’s hedge has been pressing against the fiber cement for a decade and the boards finally gave out. You don’t need a full tear-out in every case. Sometimes it’s a rail replacement and a reset. Sometimes it’s the whole run. We’ll tell you which one you actually need, in writing, before any work starts.
A note up front: Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale is an independent contractor. We’re not affiliated with James Hardie, but we install their fiber cement fence systems regularly and know how they behave in South Florida’s heat, salt air, and afternoon downpours. Trevor Nash has been running crews across Fort Lauderdale long enough to know which fasteners hold and which ones will blister the paint within two years when they’re driven into unprimed fiber cement near the coast.
Which James Hardie Models This Applies To
James Hardie doesn’t sell a standalone fence panel the way vinyl manufacturers do. What you actually have is HardiePlank lap siding or HardiePanel vertical siding mounted on a fence frame, typically pressure-treated lumber or galvanized steel posts. That distinction matters because the failure point is rarely the Hardie board itself. It’s the frame behind it, the fasteners, or the gap management between boards.
The compatibility gotcha for Fort Lauderdale specifically: Hardie fiber cement needs a minimum 6-inch clearance above grade, and at least 2 inches of separation from any sprinkler head or pool splash line. When a previous installer buried the bottom course in soil or ran it tight against a planter, the board wicks moisture up through the cut edge and delaminates from the bottom. You’ll see it as a soft, swollen edge that flakes when you press it. On the fastener side, James Hardie specifies corrosion-resistant screws, not roofing nails. In salt-adjacent neighborhoods like Rio Vista or Victoria Park, we regularly pull out fasteners that have rusted to dust while the board still looks fine. If you can tell us the texture (smooth or wood-grain), the board thickness (5/16 inch for HardiePanel, roughly 5/16 to 7/16 inch for HardiePlank depending on the profile), and whether the existing fence has metal or wood posts, we can bring the right materials on the first trip.
OEM versus aftermarket matters less for fence board itself. Hardie’s fiber cement is the product. What you don’t want is an off-brand caulk, a paint without the right primer, or a generic exterior screw from a big-box bin. We carry Hardie-approved trim, flashing, and touch-up materials on the truck, plus the paint-matching supplies needed to blend a replacement board into a weathered fence. For the frame, we’ll match what’s there and upgrade to stainless or coated fasteners in every case, because Fort Lauderdale humidity eats cheap metal faster than anywhere we’ve worked.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your James Hardie Fence Installation Is Failing
- Bottom-edge swelling or flaking. The board is wicking groundwater through the cut edge. This happens when the fence wasn’t held high enough off grade, or when landscape mulch and sprinkler overspray sit against the fiber cement. Moisture expands the board’s lower edge, and the paint delaminates in thin sheets.
- Rust streaks running down the board face. The fasteners are corroding, and their rust is bleeding into the paint. This is the most visible early warning on the salt-air side of Fort Lauderdale. The board isn’t failing; the hardware holding it is.
- A section leaning or twisting out of plane. This points to the post, not the Hardie board. A shifting post stresses every screw line and cracks boards at the fastener holes. The sooner you reset the post, the fewer boards you replace.
- Cracks radiating from screws or nails. Fiber cement will develop a hairline crack when a fastener is overdriven, driven too close to the board edge, or driven into an un-pre-drilled hole. It starts cosmetic, but water gets in and the crack opens up over a season.
- Gaps between boards where there used to be none. In South Florida, HardiePlank expands modestly with moisture. If it was installed with no expansion gap, boards will butt against each other and cup or pop the fasteners at the ends. Weatherboard fences need room to move.
Replacement Cost & What’s Included
James Hardie fence installation in Fort Lauderdale runs $3,500 – $9,000 for a typical full run. The spread comes down to fence length, whether we’re replacing just the Hardie boards on an existing sound frame or rebuilding posts and rails too, and whether the job requires removing and disposing of old materials. A shorter run with good posts and access on the low end of that range could come in under $3,500 if you’re only changing a couple of panels; a long property line with rotten wood framing, a gate, and poor access pushes toward the top.
Every quote includes the material, the labor, removal and haul-away of the failed section, and the matching paint or caulk. The number we hand you before work starts is the number on the invoice. No change orders when we discover rotted framing, no “unforeseen conditions” surprise, because we price for what we can see and we write down what we’ll do if the structure inside the fence is worse than it looked. That’s the Kingswell standard, and it’s how Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale operates on every job. The work carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the fence fails inside the guarantee period, we come back and make it right at no charge. That’s in writing too.
See the difference
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AfterDIY or Call Us?
You can safely check two things without touching a tool. Look at the bottom edge of the boards for swelling, and look at the screws for rust. If either is showing, the fix is going to involve pulling boards and likely resetting or replacing parts of the frame. Replacing a piece of Hardie fiber cement on a fence is not like swapping a vinyl slat. The boards are heavy, the cut edges need sealing, and fiber cement dust from cutting is a respiratory hazard you don’t want in your lungs, your lanai, or your pool.
What usually goes wrong with a DIY attempt is the same thing that goes wrong in a Florida summer: the new board is installed tight to grade again, the wrong fasteners go in, and the homeowner is back in the same spot in eighteen months, having spent a weekend on a temporary fix. If the fence leans at all, the post work involves digging below the root line of whatever is planted nearby and setting concrete that cures in the heat. That’s a two-person job with a post level and a day’s patience.
If you’d rather know exactly what you’re dealing with, call (754) 551-2922. We’ll look at it, tell you what we’d do, and hand you a written number before anyone picks up a hammer. Tell me what you need, I’ll tell you what it costs – then we’ll get it done.
Frequently Asked Questions
A properly installed James Hardie fiber cement fence lasts 20 to 30 years on the board itself, but the frame behind it usually needs attention at the 12 to 15 year mark in Fort Lauderdale’s humidity. The boards don’t rot, but the wooden posts and rails do, and salt air accelerates fastener corrosion. Expect to repaint every 8 to 10 years and check hardware annually if you’re east of US-1. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll tell you whether your fence is a board problem or a frame problem before you spend anything.
Hairline cracks can sometimes be sealed and repainted if they haven’t reached the fastener line, but once a board has swelling at the bottom, delamination, or rust-stained fastener holes, patching buys you a season, not a fix. In Fort Lauderdale’s wet season, a repaired board with a compromised edge will fail again the next time a storm drives water into it. We’ll replace what needs replacing and leave the rest alone; you don’t have to pay for boards that are still doing their job. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll give you an honest read and a written price.
A partial board and rail replacement is typically a one to two day job. A full fence with post resets, new concrete, gates, and paint matching runs three to five days, including the time the concrete needs to cure before we hang the weight of the Hardie boards. Weather can add a day, and we’ll tell you at the quote if your access or your neighbor’s landscaping is going to slow things down. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll give you a timeline in writing along with the price.
Yes. We keep HardiePlank and HardiePanel in the common profiles and colors, along with the trim, flashing, caulks, and corrosion-resistant fasteners this climate requires. If your fence uses a profile or color we don’t stock, we order it directly from our local Fort Lauderdale supplier, and most orders arrive within a few days. We’re not a James Hardie dealer; we’re the crew that installs and repairs the product. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll tell you what we have on the truck and what has to come in.
Call Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale for a Written Estimate
If you’ve got a failing James Hardie fence in Fort Lauderdale, the fastest way to know what you’re dealing with is a phone call. You’ll get a real person, a straight answer about whether it’s a board problem or a frame problem, and a written price before the work starts. We work throughout Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding neighborhoods, from the salt-air lots east of US-1 to the newer subdivisions further west. The 365-Day Done Right Promise goes on every single fence job. If it fails inside the year, we fix it, free. Call (754) 551-2922 today to schedule your free estimate.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale at Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
