Blaine Siding What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product made from wood strands bonded with resin and treated with a zinc borate formula (LP calls it SmartGuard) that's meant to resist fungal decay and insect damage. It comes pre-primed from the factory, ships in lap, panel, and trim profiles, and installs a lot like traditional wood siding — it can be nailed, cut, and worked with standard carpentry tools. For a lot of exterior contractors, that familiarity is the whole appeal.
We get asked about it often enough that it's worth a straight answer: we don't install it. Not because it's a bad product on paper, but because of how it performs over a full service life in a marine climate like ours, and because we've made a deliberate call to build our business around one siding system we can stand behind completely. Here's the honest reasoning.
What LP SmartSide Gets Right
Credit where it's due. LP SmartSide solved a real problem in the siding industry — it gave builders a wood-look product that resists the swelling, cupping, and insect damage that plagued older solid-wood and hardboard sidings. A few things it genuinely does well:
- Lighter weight than fiber cement, which can speed up install labor on large jobs
- Cuts and nails with standard wood tools, no specialized blades required
- Reasonable impact resistance for an engineered wood product
- Lower material cost than most fiber cement siding
- Wide range of textures and profiles that read as traditional wood siding
If your priority is matching a budget on a straightforward, well-ventilated project in a drier climate, it's a legitimate option. Our reservations are specific to how it behaves here.
Where the Trade-Offs Show Up in Whatcom County Weather
Blaine sits right on the Salish Sea, and that proximity matters more than most homeowners realize when they're comparing siding products on a spec sheet. Salt-laden air accelerates the breakdown of fasteners, caulk joints, and any factory coating that isn't fully cured or fully intact. Add in the driving rain that comes off the water during winter storms, and any siding product's weak points — seams, cut edges, butt joints — get tested constantly, not occasionally.
LP SmartSide is still a wood-based product at its core. The resin and zinc borate treatment protect the strand material from rot in normal conditions, but the product's Achilles' heel is exposed and unsealed edges — every field cut, every mitered corner, every place a nail penetrates the factory finish. If moisture gets into an unsealed cut edge and stays there, the wood fibers can swell, and that swelling doesn't reverse itself. In a climate that dries out fast, a sealing lapse might never matter. In Whatcom County, where things stay damp for weeks at a stretch, it can.
Then there's the moss. Our long moss season — shaded north-facing walls, tree-covered lots, and months of low sun angle — means organic growth gets a real foothold on exterior surfaces that don't dry out quickly. Moss and lichen hold moisture against the siding surface far longer than open, sun-exposed walls would. On a wood-fiber-based product, that's exactly the kind of sustained damp contact that shortens service life if maintenance slips even a little.
The Installation Sensitivity Problem
Every siding product has an installation standard, but some products are far less forgiving of small deviations from it than others. LP SmartSide's long-term performance depends heavily on details that are easy to shortcut on a job site under time pressure:
| Detail | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Field-cut edge sealing | Every cut exposes raw wood fiber that must be primed or sealed before installation, every time |
| Fastener placement | Nails driven at the wrong depth or angle create entry points for moisture at the fastener head |
| Flashing and clearance | Ground clearance and proper flashing at penetrations matter more on wood-based siding than on inert materials |
| Caulk joint maintenance | Butt joints and trim seams rely on caulk staying intact — a maintenance item, not a one-time install task |
None of that is unique to LP SmartSide — it's true of engineered wood generally. But it means the product's real-world durability is only as good as the installer's discipline on a given day, on a given wall, in weather that doesn't always cooperate. We'd rather not build a business model around hoping every cut edge gets sealed correctly on every job.
Long-Term Maintenance Reality
Homeowners often compare siding products by sticker price and skip the maintenance math. Over a 30-year ownership horizon, that math matters as much as the install quote:
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Base material | Wood strand, resin-bonded | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber — non-combustible |
| Repainting interval | Typically needed within 7-10 years in wet coastal climates | ColorPlus factory finish rated for extended color retention before repaint |
| Moisture vulnerability | Cut edges and joints are the weak point | Cement composition doesn't swell or rot from moisture exposure |
| Pest resistance | Treated, but still a wood-based food source | Not a food source for insects |
| Fire performance | Combustible, wood-based | Non-combustible |
The upfront cost gap between the two products narrows considerably once you price out a repaint cycle or two, plus the caulk and edge maintenance that keeps a wood-based product performing as intended near saltwater.
Warranty Structure: What's Actually Covered
Warranty language is where a lot of homeowners get surprised later, so it's worth reading closely on any siding product before committing. The details that matter most:
- Whether the warranty is prorated after a certain number of years, which reduces the payout as the product ages
- Whether proper installation to the manufacturer's exact specification is a condition of coverage — and whether that's easy to prove years later
- Whether the finish/paint warranty is separate from the substrate warranty, and how each is triggered
- Whether the warranty is transferable if you sell the home, and what paperwork that requires
We install James Hardie specifically because its warranty structure and factory-applied ColorPlus finish are things we can explain plainly to a homeowner and stand behind without hedging. That matters to us as much as the material itself.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
We made a decision a while back to install one siding system, and only one, rather than offering a menu of products with different risk profiles. James Hardie fiber cement is non-combustible, doesn't feed pests, doesn't swell or rot from moisture exposure the way wood-based products can, and comes with a factory ColorPlus finish that removes the guesswork around field-applied paint holding up to salt air. Hardie also builds region-specific HZ product lines engineered for different climate zones, which lines up with how we think about building envelopes here — Whatcom County's siding needs to handle sustained damp, salt exposure, and a long shaded season without depending on a homeowner's maintenance schedule to stay watertight.
That's not a knock on every other product on the market. It's a business decision: we'd rather do one thing at a high, consistent standard than install several products with different failure modes and different levels of installer forgiveness. LP SmartSide can be installed correctly and perform well elsewhere. We just don't think it's the right long-term bet for homes exposed to Blaine's coastal weather, and we're not going to sell a homeowner a product we wouldn't put on our own house.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Choose a Siding Product
Whatever product you land on, these are the questions that separate an informed decision from a price-driven one:
- Is the warranty prorated, and does it require proof of manufacturer-spec installation to stay valid?
- What's the realistic repaint or recoat interval for this product in a wet coastal climate, not a national average?
- Who's responsible for sealing field cuts — is it spelled out in the install contract, or assumed?
- Does the product resist moisture intrusion at joints and edges, or does it rely on caulk maintenance to stay watertight?
- Is the material combustible, and does that affect your homeowner's insurance rate?
- Can the contractor show you the finish warranty separately from the substrate warranty, in writing?
If a contractor can't answer these clearly, that's worth knowing before the siding goes up, not after.
Let's Talk About Your Home
Every home and every wall exposure is a little different, and the right siding decision depends on your specific site, sun exposure, and budget — not just a general rule. If you'd like an honest look at what your home needs and a straightforward estimate with no pressure attached, the form below gets you started.