Fairhaven Siding What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding made from wood strands bonded with resin, then coated with a treated overlay designed to resist moisture and fungal decay. It's a legitimate product with real strengths: it's lighter than fiber cement, easy for crews to cut and nail, holds paint well when properly finished, and it's a step up from the untreated OSB and hardboard products that gave engineered wood siding a bad reputation decades ago. We're not here to tell you it's junk, because it isn't.
But we made a decision as a company to install James Hardie fiber cement exclusively, and homeowners in Fairhaven and across Whatcom County deserve to know the actual reasoning, not a sales pitch dressed up as a warning.
The Core Trade-Off: It's Still Wood
Underneath the resin coating and factory treatment, LP SmartSide is wood fiber. Wood expands, contracts, and — if moisture gets past its protective layer — swells, delaminates, or decays. The manufacturer knows this, which is exactly why LP's installation instructions and warranty terms are so specific about caulking every seam, joint, and penetration, and about keeping the finish painted and maintained on a defined schedule. Skip a caulking cycle or let a scratch in the finish go unpainted for a season or two, and you've opened a path for water to reach the wood core.
That's a manageable trade-off in a dry climate. It's a harder one here.
Why This Matters More in Fairhaven
Fairhaven sits right on Bellingham Bay, and homes here take on a combination most siding products never have to deal with in drier parts of the country: salt-laden air off the water, driving rain that comes in sideways during winter storms, and long stretches of shaded, damp conditions that keep north-facing walls and tree-covered lots wet for months at a time. Whatcom County's moss season isn't a minor cosmetic issue — moss and algae hold moisture against a wall surface, and that sustained dampness is exactly the condition that stresses any wood-based product at its seams, fastener heads, and cut edges.
A homeowner who stays on top of caulking and repainting can manage this. But most people don't buy a house expecting siding maintenance to be a recurring calendar item, and a missed cycle in a climate this wet has more consequences than the same lapse would in Eastern Washington or the Southwest.
Maintenance Burden and Warranty Conditions
The other honest issue is what LP SmartSide asks of the homeowner over time:
- Field-applied finish: even with factory priming, most installations still need site-applied paint, and repainting is the homeowner's ongoing responsibility.
- Caulk maintenance: seams and joints need to be re-caulked on a schedule to keep water out — this isn't optional, it's a warranty condition.
- Warranty is conditional: coverage typically depends on documented maintenance being performed. Miss it, and you may be maintaining the material without the safety net you thought you had.
None of that makes LP SmartSide a bad product for the right situation. It makes it a product that shifts long-term moisture management onto the homeowner, in a climate that doesn't forgive lapses the way drier regions do.
What We Install Instead, and Why
We install James Hardie fiber cement siding on every job, full stop. The reasoning is straightforward:
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Engineered wood strand | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Combustibility | Wood-based (combustible) | Non-combustible |
| Finish | Field-applied paint, needs repainting | Factory-baked ColorPlus finish |
| Moisture response | Can swell/delaminate if compromised | Doesn't rot or absorb water the way wood does |
| Product line fit | General purpose | Climate-engineered HZ5 line for Pacific Northwest conditions |
Hardie's HZ5 formulation is engineered specifically for wetter, colder regions like ours, and the ColorPlus factory finish means the color coat isn't something a homeowner has to maintain or repaint every few years the way a field-applied finish requires. Combined with a strong transferable warranty and a track record that holds up in coastal, high-rainfall conditions, it's the product we're willing to stand behind on every home we touch — including our own reputation with it.
We're not going to tell you LP SmartSide will fail on your house. For a lot of homes, in a lot of climates, it performs fine. But given what Fairhaven's salt air, driving rain, and moss season actually put a wall through, we decided we'd rather install one product we trust completely than offer several and let a maintenance lapse become someone's expensive problem five years down the road.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Fairhaven or anywhere in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk your property, look at your exposure, and give you a straight answer about what makes sense — no pressure, no obligation. Reach out for a free estimate and we'll talk through it in person.