Everett Homeowners in Everett ask us about LP SmartSide often enough that it deserves a straight answer. It's a well-marketed product, it's cheaper than fiber cement in most bids, and plenty of contractors in Snohomish County install it. We don't. Not because it's a bad product on paper, but because of how it performs over years of real Pacific Northwest weather, and because we've made a deliberate choice to install one siding system — James Hardie fiber cement — and stand behind it fully rather than split our expertise across multiple product lines.
This page explains what LP SmartSide actually is, what it does well, where it struggles in our specific climate, and why we ended up standardizing on Hardie instead. No scare tactics, no invented failure statistics — just the trade-offs as we see them after years of tearing off old siding and seeing what holds up.
What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood product. It starts as wood strands (not solid lumber) that get bonded with resin under heat and pressure, then coated with a resin-saturated overlay and a factory primer or finish. It comes in lap siding, panels, and trim, and it's designed to resemble traditional wood siding — cedar lap, board-and-batten, that sort of look — at a lower material cost than real wood or fiber cement.
To LP's credit, the product has improved a lot since the OSB-based siding failures of the 1990s that gave engineered wood a bad name industry-wide. Modern SmartSide includes borate treatment for insect and fungal resistance, and LP backs it with a warranty. It's lighter than fiber cement, easier to cut without generating silica dust, and generally faster to install, which is part of why it's priced lower.
Where It Genuinely Performs Well
- Workability: It cuts with standard woodworking tools, no special blades or dust control required.
- Weight: Lighter panels mean less strain during installation and lower shipping costs.
- Price point: Typically less expensive per square foot than fiber cement, which matters on tight budgets.
- Impact resistance: Engineered wood strand construction holds up reasonably well against dents from hail or debris compared to vinyl.
- Warranty coverage: LP offers a manufacturer warranty that's improved substantially over older engineered wood products.
We're not going to pretend those advantages don't exist. For some homeowners, in some climates, SmartSide is a reasonable choice. Our objection is specific to what we see happen to wood-based siding products in Everett's weather over a 10-, 15-, 20-year horizon.
Why It's a Harder Sell in Snohomish County
It's Still Wood at Its Core
Strip away the marketing and SmartSide is still an organic, wood-fiber material. Its long-term durability depends entirely on the integrity of its resin-saturated overlay and factory finish staying unbroken. Once that outer skin is compromised — a nail popped slightly proud, a cut edge left unsealed, a scratch from a ladder or a piece of yard equipment — the underlying wood strand core is exposed to moisture. And moisture is the one thing Everett has in abundance for most of the year.
Driving Rain and Field Cuts
Snohomish County doesn't just get rain, it gets rain driven sideways off Puget Sound and Port Gardner Bay, hitting walls at an angle rather than falling straight down. Every field cut, every corner, every point where a fastener penetrates the surface is a spot where the manufacturer's factory sealing no longer applies and installer technique becomes the only thing standing between the wood core and water intrusion. LP is explicit in its own installation literature about sealing cut edges and maintaining specific clearances — but that means the product's real-world durability rides entirely on installation precision, on every single board, for the life of the siding. That's a lot of pressure to put on caulk and field technique in a climate that punishes any gap.
Moss and Prolonged Dampness
Everett's long moss season isn't just a cosmetic nuisance. Moss and algae hold moisture directly against a siding surface for extended periods, which is a bigger problem for a wood-based product than for a mineral-based one. On a north-facing wall, under mature tree cover, or in a shaded side yard — common conditions across Everett neighborhoods from Silver Lake to the Bayside area — that sustained dampness is exactly the scenario engineered wood siding handles worst.
Maintenance Burden Falls on the Homeowner
To keep SmartSide performing to spec, homeowners need to stay on top of caulking, repainting on the manufacturer's schedule, and inspecting for any breach in the surface coating — indefinitely. That's a real, ongoing cost and time commitment that doesn't always get disclosed clearly at the point of sale. Skip a few maintenance cycles, which happens constantly with real homeowners living real lives, and the risk of moisture getting into the wood core goes up substantially.
Side-by-Side: LP SmartSide vs. James Hardie Fiber Cement
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Core material | Engineered wood strand | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber (non-combustible) |
| Moisture vulnerability | High if surface coating is breached | Low — won't rot or swell from water exposure |
| Fire performance | Combustible, wood-based | Non-combustible material |
| Finish | Factory primer or overlay, often field-painted | ColorPlus factory-baked finish, no field painting needed |
| Pest resistance | Borate-treated, still organic material | Inorganic, not a food source for insects |
| Typical repaint cycle | Every 5-10 years depending on exposure | 15+ years with ColorPlus finish |
| Upfront material cost | Lower | Higher |
| Installed cost over 30 years | Lower material, higher maintenance and repaint cost | Higher material, lower ongoing maintenance cost |
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
We made a decision as a company to install one siding system and know it inside and out, rather than juggle installation specs, warranty terms, and failure modes across five or six different products. James Hardie fiber cement is what we chose, for reasons specific to this region:
- Non-combustible core: cement, sand, and cellulose fiber don't burn, which matters more each wildfire season even here on the wet side of the state.
- Moisture behavior: fiber cement doesn't swell, rot, or delaminate the way wood-based products can when water finds a way in.
- Climate-engineered product lines: Hardie's HZ10 formulation is specifically engineered for cold, wet climates like ours, addressing freeze-thaw and moisture cycling rather than a one-size-fits-all national spec.
- ColorPlus factory finish: baked-on color that resists fading and chipping far longer than field-applied paint, which means fewer repaint cycles over the life of the siding.
- Transferable warranty: a strong, well-documented warranty that holds up when installed to Hardie's spec, which we follow to the letter.
None of this means SmartSide is a scam or that everyone who installs it is doing bad work. It means we looked at Everett's rain patterns, salt air proximity, and moss season, and decided we'd rather install one system exceptionally well than offer a menu of products with different long-term risk profiles.
What This Means If You're Comparing Bids
If you're collecting quotes and one includes LP SmartSide at a noticeably lower price, that's not necessarily a red flag — it may just reflect the material cost difference. What we'd encourage you to ask any contractor, regardless of product, is:
- What is the manufacturer's specified clearance from grade, decks, and roof lines, and will the installation actually meet it on your specific home?
- How are cut edges and fastener penetrations sealed, and what happens to that seal over 10-15 years?
- What's the realistic repaint or recoat schedule, and what does skipping it do to the warranty?
- Does the warranty require proof of ongoing maintenance to stay valid?
- How does the product perform specifically in shaded, north-facing, or moss-prone conditions like the ones common in Everett?
Our Honest Bottom Line
LP SmartSide has come a long way from the engineered wood siding failures of decades past, and in a drier climate with a homeowner committed to staying on top of maintenance, it can be a reasonable product. But in Snohomish County — with driving rain off the Sound, a moss season that runs long, and salt air working on every exposed surface year-round — we don't think a wood-core product with a maintenance-dependent moisture barrier is what we want to put our name on. We'd rather install fiber cement that doesn't ask a homeowner to maintain a perfect seal for 20 years just to avoid rot.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Everett or anywhere else in Snohomish County, we're happy to walk through what we see on tear-offs, what each product actually costs over its real lifespan, and why we put Hardie on every home we side. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — we'll give you the same honest rundown in person that you just read here.