Used this to side a new house with 8 1/4" Hardiplank lap siding, with a 7" reveal. Two decades ago we made our own hangers... Glad I found theses for my first Hardi job, because they're fantastic and easily made it a two-person job (one to cut and one to hang). It is also easily a one person job for low work, but climbing up and down from scaffolding for high work will get old. There are many glowing reviews of this product, and you should believe them, so here are some tips and thoughts:
- These hangers reference the bottom of each course - definitely the most accurate way to hang siding and much better than hanger/gauge products that reference the top of each course. Hardi can vary in height so if the hanger hangs from/references the top of the board, you are immediately introducing error into the procedure. Geckos do it the smart way.
- For blind nailing, some courses will snug up very tight to the wall, certainly short pieces. This will mean that you have to grab the bottom lip of the board and pull out a bit to slip the Gecko in. For the most part, you'll be able to insert a Gecko one-handed. I have no experience using these Geckos with face nailing, only blind nailing.
- Geckos have two rails that the Hardi will rest on, you need to keep an eye on how the Hardi rests on the rails so that you know the tool is perpendicular to the Hardi plank. If the tool is positioned off-vertical, you will introduce error.
- You must watch the Gecko when setting the Hardi down into the Geckos. It is heavy enough to make the Geckos slip a bit downward and introduce error. The procedure is simple: clamp the Gecko so it is snug to the reference course. Lightly set the next course onto the Gecko rails. Check that you haven't bumped the Gecko downward off the reference course (if so simply loosen the clamp, push Gecko upward against reference course, tighten the clamp, then nail it up). We blind and hand-nailed our Hardi over 1" XPS foam, into OSB/Stud. To get the wind rating we wanted on 24" centers, we had to use 3 ¼" galvy nails with a large diameter head. Gun nails would not work over XPS foam. Too much variance in backing pressure - no amount of air pressure adjusting would solve it - either too far in, too far out, or both. Thus the hand nail. This is a lot of pressure on the Hardi and Geckos while nailing - so we learned to constantly watch for Hardi movement while resting on the Gecko. After a short time it becomes second nature and you can be careful, accurate, and fast at the same time.
- You will learn tricks to use if you've developed some course-error, and need to do a correction course. The Gecko can easily be loosened and held lower to tighten a course up. You can also slip a siding nail sideways into the Gecko between the Gecko support rails and the Hardi to introduce a slightly looser course... as a sort of shim. Very quick and easy to do.
- They are scary-quick to move - no other similar product will move as quickly.
- Yes, these are plastic, not metal. I would not want to be dragging around metal versions of these all day unless they came up with an aluminum version... that's not likely.
- Yes, the plastic can break from a fall. One of mine fell 20', hit something hard, and chipped the plastic frame. Luckily it wasn't a show-stopper and we completed the house with the original set.
- For little chunks of siding, like 6", we just used one Gecko and eyeballed the plank horizontally. This keeps the course going up nicely, but you've got to really watch what you're doing.
- Do not over-tighten the clamps. This will cause the top edge of the plank to kick out from the wall, and your next course will then try to hop off the Gecko hangers. You will quickly get a feel for how much to tighten them to effectively hold, yet not cause the plank to kick out.
- We found that if you place the hangers too close to the plank ends, you get a Hardi-sag that will bug you later when that sagging area must be clamped to on succeeding courses. The slight errors will start translating onward. We found placing the hangers a bit over 24" from each end of a 12' plank distributes the load better and keeps the plank hanging with pretty much no sag.
- If you insist on accuracy/quality, you still need to shoot reference marks, snap reference lines, and keep track of things. These aren't some sort of miracle tool that will take all the thinking and checking out of the equation. For instance if you're working up a course on each side of a window or door, you MUST run reference and keep track so that when coming over the top of the window, header courses will line up and reveals look good. You should not blindly trust the Gecko to run the courses up perfectly on each side of the window or door. Always keep track of references for accuracy and to avoid gotch-ya's.
- If you are a professional, I would recommend having a spare set of Geckos, as one will eventually break with enough long falls. They will not last forever if you're doing high scaffold work. A fall will eventually break one. I was lucky with my break, as it was non-essential plastic, and we kept working. If you can't afford down time (professional), then buy two sets and work the price into your costs. This will give you two spares and allow time for ordering/shipping the next backup set if necessary. As a pro, I simply would not hesitate to have four Geckos on hand at all times.
All this verbage may make it sound these are a pain to use. That couldn't be farther from the truth. These tips mostly apply to using the Geckos smartly while addressing the error-translation issues that arise on all siding jobs. You can really fly along with the Geckos and I wouldn't consider hanging fiber-cement siding without them. PacTool International SA903 2-Piece Gecko Gauge Hardi Board Siding Gauges - Siding Tools - Siding Guage - Fiber Cement Tool - Hardie Board Gauge'
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