Questions about 1994 building plans for a house

If you could be bothered to read the thread, you'd see that I'm not asking about leaking buildings. I asked stevo2 why he was of the view that "Hardibacker is the worst substrate ever for plastering over.". But I still don't see the answer.

Why is plaster over Hardibacker so bad when there must be 1000s of Hardiflex + batten style houses and baches about that seem to be surviving?

Sa,e question I have but the poster of that comment hasn't explained what the problem is with it.

Unfortunately far to many of them are leaking or will be shortly.
The process has a timber frame (usually untreated) covered with Hardibacker.
That then gets a layer of plastic/fiberglass mesh embedded into a thin coat of plaster that is supposed to reinforce the sheet joins and prevent cracking. It doesnt.
The plaster will still crack at the joins and if not seal/repainted water will get in. They never had a cavity so no ventilation and the dampness stayed inside the wall and mould/rot would set in.
However that is a minor issue compared to the leaked that invariably happen at windows and other junctions. Some installers put a head flashing in but some never. If there is a head flashing, they would often leak at the ends of the flashing as you cant put a turnback on the flashing if there's no cavity. Regardless of that, the sides of the window were just siliconed and plastered. The plaster always cracks where it meets the aluminium, the sealer fails and water comes in.
These are only a few of the many issues with these homes, there are many others such as ground clearance and moisture wicking or capillary action up from the ground.
Ticking time bomb.
Is it worth the gamble?

I think you are blaming the product for incorrect installation. My extension has cavities, has wire mesh on building paper and has a 12mm gap filled with flexible goo on the 1/2/3 plaster layers with the 4th & 5th over the top of that flexible joint. Building been up 15 years and not even hairline cracks on those joints. Joinery is timber with top/bottom Z flashings and massive eves.

I really don't get why you are blaming the product for defective installation.

If I were to build another house, my first choice would be diagonal 6x1 sarking with paper, wire and plaster then decent paint like Resene.

My second choice would be Hardibacker, paper, wire and plaster with the same paint. As you say, maintenance is important in terms of keeping hairline cracks sealed.

I'm buggered if I'd use any of the fancy cladding that is on the market these days.