Ferndale Siding A Straight Answer Before You Read the Rest
We get asked this a lot, usually by homeowners who've already gotten a quote for LP SmartSide from another contractor and want a second opinion. So here's the short version: we don't refuse to install LP SmartSide because it's a bad product. We refuse because, after years of siding homes in Ferndale and around Whatcom County, we decided it isn't the right product for our climate, our installation standards, or the way we want to stand behind our work. Here's the reasoning, laid out plainly.
What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product — strand-based wood fiber, resin, and zinc borate treatment, pressed into panels and coated with a treated overlay to resist moisture and insects. It's a legitimate improvement over the old-school OSB siding products that gave engineered wood a bad name in the 1990s. LP has put real engineering into the substrate treatment, and in dry-to-moderate climates, a lot of installations perform fine for years.
It's lighter than fiber cement, easier on saw blades, and often a bit less expensive installed. Those are real advantages, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
Where It's a Reasonable Choice
- Inland regions with lower average humidity and less wind-driven rain
- Homes with generous roof overhangs that keep siding mostly dry
- Budgets where the installed cost difference matters more than a 10-15 year performance horizon
None of that describes most homes we work on between Ferndale, Bellingham, and the rest of Whatcom County.
The Core Problem: It's Still Wood
Underneath the treatment, LP SmartSide is wood fiber. Wood swells when it absorbs water and shrinks when it dries. LP's zinc borate treatment resists rot and insect damage, but it doesn't change the fundamental physics of a wood-based product sitting in a marine climate that stays damp for months at a time. The treatment protects against decay organisms — it doesn't make the material dimensionally stable the way a cement-based product is.
In a place like Ferndale, that distinction matters more than in most of the country. We're close enough to the Salish Sea that homes deal with salt-laden air, we get long stretches of driving rain off the water, and our moss season runs a good chunk of the year on north-facing and shaded walls. Any siding product here needs to shrug off sustained moisture exposure, not just rain events. Engineered wood can do that reasonably well when everything is installed and maintained perfectly. It struggles when it isn't — and in the field, "perfectly" is a high bar to clear on every seam, every cut edge, every year.
Where Installation Sensitivity Becomes a Warranty Problem
This is the part that actually drove our decision, more than any single material property. LP SmartSide's warranty coverage depends heavily on installation details being followed exactly:
- Every field cut and factory edge has to be primed or sealed before installation — skip one, and moisture has a path into the core
- Caulking at joints, corners, and penetrations has to be maintained on a schedule, not just applied once
- Clearance from grade, decks, and roof lines has to be kept exact, and re-checked over time as landscaping and grading shift
- Paint and caulk maintenance is the homeowner's ongoing responsibility, not a one-time installer task
None of that is unreasonable to ask. But it means the product's real-world performance depends on two things outside our control once we hand the house back: whether every single cut edge got sealed correctly on install day, years ago, by whichever crew was doing the work, and whether the homeowner keeps up with caulk and paint maintenance indefinitely. We don't like putting a product on a house where "did it hold up" is partly a bet on maintenance discipline five, ten, fifteen years down the road — especially in a climate that punishes any lapse faster than most.
How This Plays Out With Moss, Salt Air, and Driving Rain
Moss and Shaded Walls
Whatcom County's moss season is long, and it doesn't just grow on roofs. North- and west-facing walls under trees or eaves stay damp for extended stretches, and moss holds moisture against the siding surface. On a cement-based product, that's a cosmetic and cleaning issue. On a wood-fiber product, sustained surface moisture next to any compromised seam is exactly the scenario the factory treatment is trying to prevent — and exactly the scenario that's hardest to fully guarantee against over a 20+ year ownership window.
Salt Air
Proximity to Bellingham Bay and the Salish Sea means airborne salt is a real factor for a lot of Ferndale properties, more so the closer you are to the water. Salt doesn't rot wood fiber directly, but it does accelerate the breakdown of paint films and caulk — the exact maintenance items the warranty leans on to keep moisture out.
Driving Rain
Winter storms here regularly push rain sideways, not straight down. That means water gets forced at joints, corners, and butt seams — the weak points in any lap siding system, and the specific locations where LP SmartSide's installation instructions are most exacting about sealing.
Cost and Trade-Off Comparison
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Engineered wood strand + resin | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Moisture behavior | Treated to resist, but wood-based | Dimensionally stable, doesn't rot |
| Fire performance | Combustible | Non-combustible |
| Field-cut edge care | Must be sealed on-site, every cut | Factory-primed edges, less field sensitivity |
| Finish | Field-painted or primed panel | ColorPlus factory finish available |
| Typical warranty structure | Conditional on maintenance schedule | Long-term, transferable, less maintenance-dependent |
| Installed cost | Generally lower | Generally higher upfront |
The upfront cost gap is real, and we won't tell a homeowner it doesn't matter. But when we price a job, we're pricing it as something we expect to still look right in twenty-plus years in this specific climate — not just at the five-year mark.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie Instead
We made a decision a while back to only install James Hardie fiber cement siding, full stop. A few reasons drove that:
- It's non-combustible. Cement-based siding doesn't burn, which matters more every year given regional wildfire seasons and insurance underwriting trends.
- It doesn't rot. There's no wood fiber core to protect from moisture in the first place — the material itself isn't food for the organisms that cause rot or the swelling that comes with water absorption.
- The ColorPlus factory finish holds up. A baked-on factory finish resists fading and chalking better than field-applied paint, and it removes a lot of the maintenance dependency that worries us with other products.
- Hardie's HZ5 product line is engineered for climates like ours — freeze-thaw cycling, sustained moisture, and coastal conditions specifically.
- The warranty is stronger and more transferable, which matters to homeowners who may sell within the ownership window.
We're not saying Hardie is maintenance-free — no exterior product is. Caulking still needs periodic attention, and paint touch-ups on cut edges still matter. But the margin for error is bigger, and the material itself isn't working against you the way a wood-based core can in a wet, salty, mossy climate.
Questions Worth Asking Any Siding Contractor
Whatever product you're considering, and whoever you hire, these are worth nailing down before signing anything:
- Who is actually sealing field-cut edges, and is that step ever skipped to save time?
- What voids the manufacturer's warranty, in plain language — not the summary sheet?
- Is the warranty transferable if you sell the house?
- What's the expected maintenance schedule — caulk, paint, inspection — over the next 10 years?
- How does this specific product perform in a marine, high-moisture climate versus a dry one?
- What's included in the labor warranty versus the material warranty, and who's on the hook if something fails at a seam?
The Bottom Line
LP SmartSide isn't a scam product or a bad investment everywhere. It's a wood-based product with a treatment system that depends on near-perfect installation and ongoing maintenance to perform well over decades — and Ferndale's combination of salt air, driving rain, and a long moss season is a demanding environment to ask that of. We'd rather install one product, install it right every time, and stand behind it with a straight face than offer a menu of options and hope the cheaper one holds up.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Ferndale or anywhere else in Whatcom County, we're glad to come take a look and talk through what we'd actually recommend for your specific house — no pressure, no upsell script. Reach out for a free estimate using the form below.