Ferndale Siding LP SmartSide Isn't a Bad Product — It's the Wrong Product for This Climate
We get asked about LP SmartSide often enough that it's worth a straight answer: we don't install it. Not because it's a scam or because the manufacturer is cutting corners, but because after years of doing exterior work in Whatcom County, we've settled on James Hardie fiber cement as the only siding system we're willing to put our name behind. Here's the honest reasoning, not a sales pitch.
What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood product — strand board or fiberboard coated with a resin-saturated overlay and treated with zinc borate to resist fungal decay and insects. It's lighter than fiber cement, easier on saw blades, and generally less expensive to install. For a lot of the country, especially drier climates, it holds up fine for decades. That's a fair product, built with real engineering behind it.
The Problem Is What Ferndale's Climate Does to Wood-Based Siding
Whatcom County sits right up against the Salish Sea, and that means salt-laden air, long stretches of driving rain off the water, and a moss season that can run eight or nine months out of the year on a shaded, north-facing wall. LP SmartSide is engineered wood — and engineered wood, no matter how well treated, still has wood's core vulnerability: it swells, wicks moisture at cut edges and seams, and depends entirely on an intact factory coating to keep water out.
The failure mode we've seen isn't dramatic. It's slow. A caulk joint opens up a hair. A butt seam wasn't primed correctly in the field. Moss holds moisture against the bottom courses through a wet Ferndale winter. Over a few years, that's enough to let water into the substrate, and once an engineered wood panel starts absorbing moisture, it doesn't dry out the way solid lumber does — it swells, and swelling is often the first visible sign that damage is already underway.
It's a Maintenance-Sensitive Product
LP SmartSide can perform well — but it demands a level of ongoing diligence that we don't think is realistic to expect from most homeowners:
- Cut edges and field seams need to be primed and sealed correctly at install, every time, with no shortcuts
- Caulking at joints and trim needs to be inspected and refreshed on a schedule, not "whenever it looks cracked"
- Moss and algae growth — common on shaded walls near Bellingham Bay's moisture — needs to be kept off the siding, not allowed to sit against it through a rainy season
- Any moisture intrusion needs to be caught early, because once water gets behind the coating, it's a repair job, not a wipe-down
That's a lot to put on a homeowner who just wants exterior siding that quietly does its job for the next 30 years. We'd rather install something that's more forgiving of the occasional missed caulk touch-up or a wet winter that runs long.
Why We Install James Hardie Instead
James Hardie fiber cement is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — there's no wood fiber for moisture to swell or rot. It doesn't feed moss the way engineered wood substrates can, and it holds its shape and finish through the wet, salt-air conditions that define a Ferndale winter far better than a wood-based product does. Hardie's HZ5 product line is specifically engineered for climates with the kind of moisture exposure we get this close to the water.
The finish matters too. Hardie's ColorPlus factory-applied finish is baked on under controlled conditions, not field-applied, which means better fade resistance and fewer seams where the coating is only as good as the installer's technique that day. And Hardie backs the product with a strong, transferable limited warranty — which tells you something about how confident the manufacturer is in how the material behaves over decades, not just years.
Our Standard, Not a Knock on the Alternative
We're not going to tell you LP SmartSide is junk — plenty of homes around the country wear it fine. But we're a Ferndale-based crew, and we build our standards around what actually holds up on this coastline, under this rainfall, through this moss season. When we stopped installing engineered wood siding products, it was because we'd rather install one system extremely well than several systems with varying maintenance ceilings. James Hardie fiber cement is where we landed, and it's the only siding we put on homes now.
Talk to Us Before You Decide
If you're comparing siding options for a home in Ferndale or anywhere in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk through what we've seen work and what hasn't, with no pressure either way. Reach out for a free estimate and we'll give you a straight answer about what your home actually needs.