Semiahmoo Siding An Honest Look at LP SmartSide
Homeowners in Semiahmoo ask us fairly often why we don't offer LP SmartSide. It's a legitimate product with real advantages, and we think you deserve a straight answer instead of a sales pitch. This page explains what LP SmartSide does well, where it runs into trouble in a Whatcom County climate, and why we chose to build our business around James Hardie fiber cement instead.
What LP SmartSide Gets Right
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product made from strand-based wood substrate, bonded with resins and waxes, then treated with a zinc borate coating for insect and fungal resistance. It has some genuine strengths:
- Lighter weight than fiber cement, which can mean faster installation
- Good impact resistance for its weight class
- Easier to cut and nail on-site without the dust-control requirements fiber cement demands
- A reasonable upfront cost compared to premium siding options
For the right project and the right budget, it's not a bad product. We're not here to tell you it doesn't work anywhere. We're telling you why it isn't what we choose to put on homes near Semiahmoo Bay.
Where the Wood Substrate Matters in This Climate
The core issue is simple: LP SmartSide is still a wood-based product underneath its treatment. Manufacturer installation specs require every cut edge, joint, seam, and penetration to be properly primed, caulked, or sealed at time of install — and kept that way with ongoing maintenance. That's a reasonable ask in a dry climate. It's a much harder ask here.
Semiahmoo sits right on the water, and homes here deal with salt air drifting off Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor almost year-round. Salt-laden moisture works its way into caulk joints and fastener heads faster than it does further inland, and it accelerates the breakdown of sealants that engineered wood siding depends on to keep moisture out of its substrate. Add in the driving rain that comes through Whatcom County during fall and winter storms — rain that hits siding at an angle, not just straight down — and those sealed edges take a real beating.
Then there's the long moss season. Shaded, damp conditions along the coast here keep siding wet longer between storms than sunnier inland climates would. Moss and algae hold moisture directly against the surface for weeks at a time. On a wood-substrate product, that sustained dampness at compromised seams is exactly the scenario the manufacturer's caulking and maintenance schedule is trying to prevent — and it only takes one missed re-caulk cycle for moisture to reach the substrate underneath.
None of this means LP SmartSide fails on every house. It means the product's long-term performance is tied directly to maintenance discipline, in a climate that doesn't give you much room for error on that front.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie Instead
A few years back we made the call to install James Hardie fiber cement exclusively, and stopped offering LP SmartSide, vinyl, Cemplank, Allura, primed spruce, and cedar. The reasoning came down to what actually holds up on this coastline with normal homeowner upkeep — not perfect upkeep.
| Factor | Why It Matters Here |
|---|---|
| Substrate | Fiber cement is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — it doesn't swell or rot the way a wood-based substrate can if a joint is neglected |
| Fire | Hardie is non-combustible, which matters as much for insurance conversations as for wildfire smoke seasons |
| Finish | ColorPlus factory-baked finish resists fading and holds up against salt air and UV better than field-applied paint |
| Product engineering | Hardie's HZ10 line is specifically engineered for high-moisture, marine-influenced climates like ours |
| Warranty | A strong, transferable warranty backs the product when it's installed to spec |
James Hardie isn't maintenance-free — no siding is. You'll still need to keep an eye on caulking, clear debris out of moss-prone areas, and wash down algae growth periodically. But the consequence of a missed maintenance cycle is far less severe on a cement-based product than on a wood-based one, and that gap is what matters most in a place with this much rain, salt air, and shade.
Our Standard, Not a Verdict on the Product
We want to be clear about what this page is and isn't. It's not a claim that LP SmartSide is a bad product or that it will fail on your house. It's an explanation of the trade-offs we weighed and why we decided, as a company, that fiber cement is what we're willing to install and stand behind in Semiahmoo's specific climate. If another contractor installs SmartSide well and you maintain it diligently, it can serve you for years. We just chose not to build our business on a product whose performance here depends so heavily on staying ahead of maintenance.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Semiahmoo or elsewhere in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk through what we see on local homes and why we recommend what we do. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — there's no obligation, and we'll give you the same straight answer in person that we've given here.
