Hardboard Siding: What It Is, When It Was Developed, and Where You'll Still Find It in Upstate NY

Benjamin Augustine

Sep 4

6 min read

If you've bought or looked at a home built between the 1960s and the mid-1990s

anywhere in Central New York, the Finger Lakes, or the surrounding Upstate region, there's a good chance I've pointed out hardboard siding somewhere on the exterior. It's one of the most common defect conversations I have on inspections, and most buyers have never heard the term before I say it out loud. So here's the rundown on what it actually is, where it came from, and why I look at it as closely as I do.

What Is Hardboard Siding?

Hardboard siding is an engineered wood product made by breaking wood down into fibers, then reconstituting it under heat and pressure with resins, wax, and binders into a dense panel or lap board. It's not solid wood and it's not plywood — it's closer to a very dense fiberboard, pressed and formed to look like traditional wood clapboard, shakes, or panel siding.

You'll often hear it called by its most famous brand name, Masonite, the way people say "Kleenex" for tissue. Most hardboard siding installed across Upstate NY from the 1960s through the early 1990s came from the Masonite Corporation, though several other manufacturers made competing versions of the same basic product.

When Was It Developed?

Hardboard as a material traces back to 1924, when engineer and inventor William H. Mason — a former apprentice of Thomas Edison — developed a process for turning waste wood into a useful building product by applying heat, steam, and pressure to wood fiber. Mason's discovery led him to found the Mason Fibre Company in 1925, which later became the Masonite Corporation, and the company's first production plant began operating that same year.

During World War II, Masonite's hardboard became an important substitute for scarce metals, and the material found a huge second life in postwar residential construction, where it was marketed as an affordable, paintable alternative to solid wood siding.

By the 1960s and 70s, hardboard lap siding was showing up on tract housing, ranch homes, and additions all across the country, including throughout Central New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier. It was inexpensive, came pre-primed or ready to paint, and installed quickly — all of which made it a favorite of builders during the region's postwar housing boom.

What the Specifications Actually Cover

Hardboard siding isn't an unregulated product — it's manufactured to meet a national standard, and inspectors reference that standard when we evaluate condition and installation. The American National Standard for Hardboard Siding, ANSI A135.6, now referred to as the Engineered Wood Siding Standard, covers requirements and methods of testing for exterior durability, dimensions, straightness, squareness, physical properties, and surface characteristics.

That standard didn't start out under that name, either. It was originally promulgated under the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Bureau of Standards as Voluntary Product Standard PS 60-73, before later becoming the American National Standard we reference today. A 1998 revision to the standard added metric equivalents and adjusted the specified maximum for linear expansion testing.

In plain terms, the standard governs things like:

How much the board can expand or contract with moisture exposure
Minimum thickness and dimensional tolerances
Impact and durability testing
Surface texture and finish consistency
Proper nailing patterns and installation methods, which matter enormously to how the product performs over time

Building codes require hardboard siding to conform to ANSI A135.6, and where it's used structurally, it must be identified by the label of an approved testing agency. When I'm inspecting an older home, I'm not pulling out the ANSI standard on-site — but I am checking whether the siding was installed the way that standard assumes it will be: properly primed on all cut edges, nailed correctly, and kept clear of standing water and direct soil contact.

Where You'll Still See It Around Upstate NY

Hardboard siding shows up constantly across my coverage area — Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Madison, Oneida, Chenango, and the Western NY and Finger Lakes communities I inspect regularly. Common places I find it:

Ranch and split-level homes from the 1960s–80s, which make up a huge share of the housing stock in and around Syracuse, Auburn, and the smaller towns throughout Central New York
Additions and garages built onto older farmhouses, where hardboard was a cheap, fast way to match or extend existing wall coverage
Lake camps and cottages around Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco, and Skaneateles Lakes, where budget-conscious seasonal construction leaned heavily on hardboard panel siding
Rental and investment properties, since hardboard was a common builder-grade choice before vinyl and fiber cement became the standard

If your home was built or re-sided sometime between the Kennedy administration and the early Clinton years, there's a real chance hardboard is somewhere on it, even if it's been painted over enough times that it's not immediately obvious.

Why I Flag It So Often

During the 1980s and 90s, hardboard siding developed a well-documented reputation for problems including rot, discoloration, blistering, and general deterioration, which led to a class action lawsuit against the Masonite Corporation and a large-scale recall after it was determined some boards weren't properly compressed or installed. Because of that history, the product is now more commonly referred to simply as "hardboard siding" rather than by the Masonite brand name.

On inspections, the failure pattern is pretty consistent, and I look for it every time:

Swelling and delamination at the bottom edge, where boards wick up moisture from splashback, grade contact, or poor flashing
Buckling and waviness across a wall section, often from moisture cycling behind the siding
Soft, spongy spots when pressed, especially near butt joints and around window and door trim
Paint failure and discoloration that reveals moisture getting into the fiber
Nail popping and edge cracking, especially where the siding wasn't primed on cut ends before installation

Hardboard siding has a comparatively short service life of roughly eight to ten years if it isn't properly maintained, though with consistent painting and caulking it can last considerably longer. Poor installation, on the other hand, can significantly shorten that lifespan and lead to buckling, rotting, softening, blistering, and swelling well ahead of schedule.

What This Means If You're Buying a Home With Hardboard Siding

Finding hardboard siding on a home isn't automatically a deal-breaker — plenty of it is still performing fine decades later, especially where it's been kept painted and away from direct moisture exposure. What matters is condition, not just presence. On every inspection, I'm looking at:

How much of the siding shows active swelling, softening, or delamination versus just cosmetic wear
Whether problem areas are isolated (a few boards near a downspout) or systemic (widespread failure across multiple elevations)
Whether grading, gutters, and flashing are keeping water away from the siding in the first place
Realistic budgeting for partial repair, spot replacement, or a full re-side, depending on what I find

I'll always give you a clear, plain-language picture of what I'm seeing and what it likely means for your maintenance budget going forward — not just a checkbox on a form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is hardboard siding the same thing as Masonite siding? Yes, in most cases. Masonite was the leading brand name for hardboard siding for decades, similar to how "Kleenex" became shorthand for tissue. Several other manufacturers made comparable hardboard products under different names.

Is hardboard siding still manufactured today? The Masonite Corporation exited the hardboard siding business following the lawsuits and reputation issues of the 1980s and 90s. Most siding sold today under the hardboard or engineered wood siding category comes from different manufacturers producing improved versions to the current ANSI A135.6 standard.

How do I know if my house has hardboard siding? Hardboard typically has a wood-grain or textured embossed surface, is installed in long horizontal lap boards or larger panel sheets, and shows a distinct fibrous, compressed texture at any cut or damaged edge — unlike solid wood, which shows a grain structure all the way through.

Does hardboard siding affect a home's value or insurability? It can, particularly if there's visible deterioration. Some insurers ask about siding condition and material during underwriting. I document condition clearly in my reports so you and your agent or insurer have accurate information to work with.

Do you inspect hardboard siding on lake houses and cottages differently than standard homes? Given how common hardboard is on Finger Lakes camps and cottages, and how much more moisture exposure those properties see, I pay especially close attention to grade contact, splashback, and shoreline-side weathering on waterfront properties.

Golden Standard Services provides home inspection, septic and wastewater inspection, environmental testing, and drone photography throughout Syracuse, Central New York, and the Finger Lakes region. Whether your home has original hardboard siding from the 1970s or a full modern re-side, I'll give you a clear, honest assessment of its condition before you buy.