Everett Cemplank Isn't a Bad Product — It's Just Not the One We Chose
We get this question a lot: "Why don't you install Cemplank? Isn't it fiber cement too?" It's a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer instead of a sales pitch. Cemplank is a legitimate fiber cement siding product, part of the Allura family of brands, and fiber cement as a category is genuinely good material — far more durable than vinyl, far more fire-resistant than wood. Our objection isn't that Cemplank is junk. It's that after years of installing siding in Everett and around Snohomish County, we settled on James Hardie as the one system we stand behind completely, and we think homeowners deserve to know why before they sign a contract with any siding crew.
This page walks through the honest trade-offs — where Cemplank holds up fine, and where the gaps show up over a 20-30 year ownership horizon in a marine, moss-prone climate like ours.
What Cemplank Gets Right
To be fair to the product: fiber cement, as a category, solves most of the real problems with other siding materials. Cemplank boards are made from the same basic recipe as most fiber cement — Portland cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — pressed and cured into planks. That gives it real advantages over vinyl and wood:
- It's non-combustible, which matters for insurance and for peace of mind.
- It doesn't rot, warp, or attract wood-boring insects the way cedar or primed spruce can.
- It holds paint and texture far better than vinyl, and it doesn't buckle or crack in cold snaps the way vinyl can.
- It's price-competitive, often coming in a step below James Hardie on material cost.
If a homeowner asked us "is Cemplank a scam" or "is it dangerous," the honest answer is no. It's a real fiber cement product from a real manufacturer. Our decision not to install it is about long-term fit for this climate and about the support system behind the product, not about the board itself being defective.
Where the Trade-Offs Start: Regional Distribution and Support
This is the biggest practical issue, and it's the one homeowners feel years after installation, not on install day. James Hardie has built an enormous distribution and dealer network across the Pacific Northwest, with dedicated regional manufacturing formulated specifically for wet, marine climates. Cemplank and other Allura-family products have a thinner distribution footprint in Western Washington. That matters in three very specific ways:
- Matching siding for repairs. If a delivery truck backs into a wall, or a windstorm off Puget Sound cracks a few boards, you need the exact same plank profile and finish available years later. The deeper a manufacturer's regional stocking network, the easier that repair is.
- Warranty service on the ground. A warranty is only as good as the local infrastructure behind it — inspectors, replacement stock, and installers familiar with the product. Thinner distribution means more friction when something needs a warranty claim.
- Installer familiarity. Because so few contractors in our area regularly install Cemplank, there's a smaller pool of crews who've handled its specific quirks — plank tolerances, fastener schedules, factory finish touch-up — at scale.
Climate-Engineering: Built for Everett, or Built Generically?
Everett sits in a marine climate zone — salt air off the Sound, driving rain nine months of the year, and a long moss season that keeps north-facing walls damp well into summer. Not all fiber cement is engineered the same way for that. James Hardie manufactures distinct product lines by climate zone (their HZ5 line is formulated specifically for the wetter, harsher regions like ours), adjusting the cement formulation for moisture and freeze-thaw behavior. That's a meaningful engineering distinction, not marketing language — it affects how the board manages moisture absorption at cut edges and how it holds dimensional stability through our wet winters.
Cemplank, like several other fiber cement brands, is manufactured and sold more generically across regions, without the same degree of climate-zone-specific product segmentation. For a homeowner in Everett, that means the board on your wall may not be formulated with our specific rain load and salt exposure as the primary design target.
Factory Finish and Color Consistency
One of the most underrated differences in fiber cement siding is whether the color is baked on at the factory under controlled conditions, or applied on site (or via a smaller regional finishing process). James Hardie's ColorPlus finish is a factory-applied, baked-on finish system with a documented multi-coat process and a specific companion warranty for the finish itself, separate from the substrate warranty. That distinction — substrate warranty and finish warranty as two separate, both well-documented things — is something we look for in any product we stand behind.
Cemplank offers primed and some prefinished options, but the depth and consistency of finish-specific warranty coverage, and the density of the color-matching network for future touch-ups, isn't at the same level in our market. Over a 20-year ownership window, that gap shows up as fading inconsistency between original siding and any replacement boards added later.
Side-by-Side: What We Actually Weigh
| Factor | Cemplank | James Hardie |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Fiber cement | Fiber cement |
| Climate-specific product lines | Limited regional segmentation | HZ5 line engineered for wet/marine climates |
| Regional distribution in Snohomish County | Thinner dealer network | Deep, well-established network |
| Factory finish system | Primed / some prefinished options | ColorPlus baked-on factory finish |
| Warranty structure | Manufacturer warranty on substrate | Separate substrate and finish warranties, transferable |
| Fire resistance | Non-combustible | Non-combustible |
| Typical material cost | Generally lower | Generally higher |
Installation Sensitivity: Where a Crew's Experience Actually Matters
Fiber cement in general is unforgiving of sloppy installation — wrong nailing pattern, wrong clearance from grade or roofline, unsealed cut edges, or improper caulk joints will shorten the life of any fiber cement product, Cemplank or Hardie. That's not unique to one brand. But it's a reason we don't spread ourselves across five different siding systems. Every fiber cement manufacturer publishes its own installation specifications — fastener spacing, minimum clearances, flashing details, joint treatment — and those specs differ enough between brands that a crew installing multiple products is, by definition, splitting its depth of expertise.
We chose to go deep on one system rather than broad across several. That means our crews know Hardie's fastening schedule, clearance requirements, and joint details cold, because it's the only fiber cement spec they run, week after week, on Everett-area homes.
What to Ask Any Contractor Before Fiber Cement Installation
- Which specific fiber cement brand and product line do they install most often — not just "have installed once"?
- Do they follow the manufacturer's published fastener schedule and minimum ground/roof clearances, or a generic approach?
- How are cut edges sealed, and with what product?
- Is the finish factory-applied, or field-primed and painted after install?
- What does the warranty actually cover — substrate only, or substrate and finish separately?
- Is the warranty transferable if you sell the home?
- Can they show you the manufacturer's local dealer/support presence in Snohomish County?
The Moss and Rain Factor, Specifically
Everett's long moss season deserves its own mention because it's not hypothetical — it's the single biggest maintenance driver we see on siding calls in this area. North- and west-facing walls under tree cover stay damp for extended stretches, and any siding product's real test is how it performs at the cut edge and butt joint under sustained moisture, not just under a rain gauge in a lab. This is exactly the scenario climate-specific engineering is meant to address, and it's a meaningful part of why we lean on a product line built with this specific exposure in mind rather than a generic national formulation.
Cost Honesty: What You're Actually Paying For
We won't pretend Cemplank and similar generic fiber cement products don't offer real savings on material cost — they often do, sometimes meaningfully. If budget is the deciding factor and you understand the trade-offs above, that's a legitimate homeowner decision, and it's not our place to shame anyone for making it. What we won't do is install a product on your home and tell you it carries the same regional support, climate engineering, and finish warranty depth as the system we've chosen to specialize in, when it doesn't. That's the honesty this page is meant to provide.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
After weighing distribution support, climate-specific formulation, factory finish consistency, and warranty structure, James Hardie was the system that held up best across all four categories for homes in our specific corner of Western Washington. It's not the only fiber cement brand that exists, and it's not automatically the right answer for every home or every budget. But it's the one system we're willing to install exclusively, train our crews on exclusively, and warranty our workmanship against — because we've seen how it performs on Everett homes through salt air, driving rain, and moss season, year after year.
If you're comparing siding products and want a straight answer about what's actually different between brands — not a sales pitch — we're happy to walk through it in person. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate and we'll look at your home's specific exposure and give you our honest read.