Ferndale Siding Two Products Often Grouped Together That Aren't Really Alike
Homeowners in Ferndale shopping for new siding almost always end up comparing James Hardie fiber cement to LP SmartSide, and it makes sense — both are marketed as durable, low-maintenance upgrades over vinyl or old cedar lap siding. But the two products are built from fundamentally different materials, and that difference matters a lot more here than it does in a dry inland climate. Whatcom County sits right off the Salish Sea, which means siding on almost every home in Ferndale deals with salt-laden air, wind-driven rain off Bellingham Bay, and a wet season that can run eight months out of the year with heavy moss growth on north-facing walls and shaded elevations. Whatever you put on your walls has to handle sustained moisture exposure, not just an occasional storm.
This page lays out what each product actually is, where each one performs well, and where each one runs into trouble — honestly, without the sales pitch either brand would give you. We only install James Hardie, and by the end of this page you'll understand why, but we're not going to pretend LP SmartSide is a bad product. It isn't. It's just not the product we're willing to put our name behind in this climate.
What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood product. Strand board — wood fibers oriented and bonded under heat and pressure, similar in concept to OSB sheathing — is treated with a zinc borate additive for insect and fungal resistance, then coated with a resin-saturated overlay and a factory primer. It comes in lap siding, panel siding, and trim, and it's a real step up from old-school masonite hardboard siding that failed so badly in the Pacific Northwest through the 1990s.
What It Gets Right
- Lighter weight than fiber cement, which can mean lower labor cost to install
- Easier to cut and fasten with standard woodworking tools — no special blades required
- Decent impact resistance for a wood-based product
- Real wood grain texture that some homeowners prefer over fiber cement's texture
- Zinc borate treatment genuinely improves resistance to rot and insects compared to untreated wood
LP has also backed the product with engineering data and a reasonably strong limited warranty, and plenty of homes around Washington are clad in it without major issues, especially on protected elevations with generous roof overhang.
Where It Runs Into Trouble Here
The core of LP SmartSide is still wood. Zinc borate resists rot and insects, but it does not make the substrate waterproof, and wood strand board swells when it absorbs moisture. The entire performance of the product depends on the factory-applied overlay and edge seal staying intact, and on every field cut being primed and sealed before installation — a step that's easy to skip on a job site and impossible to verify once the siding is up. In a climate with occasional summer thunderstorms, a missed edge seal might never matter. In Whatcom County, where driving rain off the water can hit a wall for days at a stretch and moss holds moisture against north and shaded walls for weeks at a time, an unsealed cut edge or a caulk joint that opens up is exactly the kind of small gap that turns into swelling, delamination, or soft spots at butt joints and around penetrations. Once that strand board substrate starts to take on water, it doesn't dry back out the way solid wood does, and repair usually means replacing the affected boards rather than patching them.
What James Hardie Fiber Cement Is Made Of
James Hardie siding is a composite of Portland cement, sand, and cellulose fiber, cured under pressure and heat. There's no wood strand core to swell, no organic substrate for fungus to feed on, and the material is non-combustible — it won't ignite or contribute fuel to a fire, which matters more every year given wildfire smoke seasons even here on the west side of the Cascades. Hardie's factory-applied ColorPlus finish is baked on and backed by its own finish warranty, separate from the substrate warranty on the board itself, and it's engineered to resist the fading and cracking that plagues field-painted siding exposed to UV and salt air.
Hardie also builds regional product lines — its HZ5 formulation is engineered for climates with more moisture cycling and freeze-thaw exposure than the HZ10 line built for hot, dry regions. That's a meaningful distinction for a coastal Whatcom County home versus a house in eastern Washington, and it's part of why we spec the product line rather than treating "Hardie" as one generic material.
Side-by-Side: Material Behavior in a Wet Coastal Climate
| Factor | LP SmartSide (engineered wood) | James Hardie (fiber cement) |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Wood strand board with resin overlay | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Moisture response | Swells if edges/cuts aren't sealed | Dimensionally stable, does not swell |
| Combustibility | Combustible (wood-based) | Non-combustible |
| Insect/rot resistance | Zinc borate treated, not immune | No organic material to feed on |
| Finish | Factory primed, typically field-painted | Factory-cured ColorPlus or field-painted |
| Field-cut edge risk | Must be primed/sealed on-site | Lower risk, but caulking/flashing still critical |
| Weight | Lighter | Heavier, requires proper fastening technique |
| Typical warranty | Limited warranty, prorated after early years | Non-prorated limited warranty, transferable |
Installation Sensitivity — Different Products, Different Failure Modes
It's fair to say both products are installation-sensitive. Neither one performs well if it's hung wrong. But the consequences of a mediocre install differ. On LP SmartSide, a poorly sealed cut edge, a missing bead of caulk at a butt joint, or trim installed without proper flashing gives moisture a direct path into an organic substrate that swells and doesn't fully recover. On fiber cement, sloppy installation — wrong nail placement, boards installed too tight with no expansion gap, missing kick-out flashing — mostly shows up as cracking, popped fasteners, or paint failure at the joints rather than substrate failure, because there's no wood core to absorb water and swell. That's not an argument that installation quality doesn't matter with Hardie — it absolutely does, and Hardie publishes detailed fastening and clearance specs for exactly this reason — it's an argument that the material itself gives you a wider margin for error in a climate where perfect caulk joints don't stay perfect forever.
Warranty Structure: Read the Fine Print
Both manufacturers offer limited warranties, but the structure matters as much as the length. LP's warranty on SmartSide has historically included prorated coverage that steps down over time, meaning your recovery shrinks the longer you've owned the siding — worth reading closely rather than assuming "warrantied" means "fully covered" at year twelve. James Hardie's limited warranty on its siding is non-prorated for its full term and is transferable to a new owner if you sell the house, which also tends to matter to buyers and appraisers. Neither warranty covers installation defects — that's on the contractor, not the manufacturer — which is exactly why who installs your siding matters as much as which brand you choose.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
We made a decision as a company to install James Hardie exclusively — not LP SmartSide, not vinyl, not primed spruce or cedar. That's a narrower offering than a lot of siding contractors run, and it's intentional. Ferndale homes take a real beating from salt air rolling in off the water, sustained driving rain through the wet months, and moss that holds dampness against north walls for weeks on end. We'd rather stand behind one material system we know performs against all of that for decades, with a non-prorated transferable warranty and a factory finish engineered for this kind of exposure, than offer a menu of products with different moisture tolerances and different long-term outcomes. It also means our crews are deeply practiced in one installation spec rather than switching techniques between jobs, which is where a lot of siding problems actually originate regardless of brand.
What to Check Before You Sign a Siding Contract
Whatever material you're considering, use this list before hiring anyone:
- Ask which specific product line is being specified, not just the brand name (HZ5 vs. HZ10 matters for Hardie; check what SmartSide series is being quoted)
- Confirm how cut edges will be sealed and inspect that step during installation if you can
- Get the warranty document itself, not just a verbal summary — read whether it's prorated and what voids it
- Ask about flashing details at windows, doors, and roof intersections — this is where most siding failures actually start, regardless of material
- Check whether the contractor is a manufacturer-certified installer for the product they're proposing
- Get manufacturer product data sheets for the specific climate zone, not generic marketing brochures
If you're weighing James Hardie against another siding option for a home in Ferndale or elsewhere in Whatcom County, we're glad to walk through what we'd actually spec for your house — no pressure, no obligation. Fill out the form below for a free estimate.