Ferndale A Question We Get Asked Often
Homeowners in Ferndale and across Whatcom County sometimes call us with a specific product already in mind — vinyl because a neighbor has it, LP SmartSide because a big-box store recommended it, or cedar because it's what was on the house originally. We understand why. Each of those products has a place in the siding market, and none of them are scams or junk. But we made a decision years ago to install only James Hardie fiber cement siding, and we think homeowners deserve a straight answer about why, not a sales pitch.
This page lays out our actual reasoning — the trade-offs we weighed, what pushed us toward Hardie, and what that means for a house sitting a few miles from Bellingham Bay, catching salt air off the Strait of Georgia and the long gray moss season that Whatcom County is known for.
What Our Local Climate Actually Does to Siding
Ferndale sits close enough to saltwater that airborne salt is a real factor on siding, trim, and fasteners, especially on homes closer to Lummi Bay, Birch Bay, or the Nooksack delta. Add to that the driving, wind-blown rain that comes through in fall and winter storms, and a growing season that stays damp enough for moss and algae to colonize almost any exterior surface for months at a time, and you have a climate that is genuinely tough on building materials — tougher than a lot of manufacturers' marketing accounts for.
Three things happen to a house here over time:
- Moisture finds its way behind and into siding through wind-driven rain, especially at butt joints, corners, and penetrations.
- Organic growth — moss, algae, lichen — establishes on any surface that stays damp, particularly on north- and west-facing walls shaded by mature trees.
- UV exposure and freeze-thaw cycling stress paint films and caulk joints, even in a relatively mild coastal climate.
Every siding material on the market has to survive that combination. Some do it better than others, and that's really the whole story behind our standard.
Why We Stopped Installing Vinyl
Vinyl siding is affordable and low-maintenance in the sense that it doesn't need repainting. But vinyl is a thin, flexible plastic product, and in a marine climate with real wind events, it has real limitations. It can warp or distort near heat sources, it becomes brittle and more prone to cracking in cold snaps, and its seams and J-channels give wind-driven rain more opportunities to get behind the cladding than a properly installed fiber cement system does. Color is baked into the material, which sounds like an advantage until you consider that vinyl fades unevenly over fifteen to twenty years and can't be repainted to match without replacing panels — the color options also tend to be flatter and less varied than what's available with a factory-finished fiber cement product.
None of that makes vinyl a bad product for every application. It just doesn't meet the standard we want to put our name behind on a coastal Whatcom County home.
Why We Stopped Installing LP SmartSide
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood product — strand board with a resin-treated overlay. It installs fast, it's lighter than fiber cement, and it holds paint reasonably well when everything goes right. The catch is that it's still wood at its core. Wood-based siding depends entirely on the treated overlay and the caulk and paint film staying intact at every cut edge, fastener hole, and joint. In a climate where wind-driven rain finds every gap eventually, that's a lot of ongoing maintenance riding on a thin protective layer. Once moisture gets past that layer into the substrate, wood-based products can swell, delaminate at the edges, or develop rot — and by the time it's visible, the damage is often already done underneath.
Fiber cement doesn't have that vulnerability because there's no wood fiber for moisture to feed on in the first place.
Why We Stopped Installing Cedar
Cedar is a legitimate, attractive, naturally rot-resistant wood, and a lot of older Ferndale homes still wear it well. But natural rot resistance isn't the same as maintenance-free. Cedar siding needs to be re-stained or repainted on a real schedule, it's a preferred food source for the moss and algae our climate produces in abundance, and it's combustible in a way that matters more each year as wildfire smoke and dry-season fire risk become a bigger part of Pacific Northwest summers. Cedar also isn't cheap once you factor in the ongoing refinishing cost over a 20-30 year ownership period — the material cost up front is only part of what a homeowner actually pays for cedar siding over time.
Why We Stopped Installing Cemplank and Allura
Cemplank and Allura are also fiber cement products, so the core material science is similar to Hardie's — this isn't a "wood versus fiber cement" argument here. The difference we care about is the engineering behind the specific product line, the factory finish system, and the warranty and manufacturer support structure. James Hardie pioneered fiber cement siding in North America, engineers specific product lines for specific climate zones (more on that below), and backs its ColorPlus finish with a dedicated finish warranty separate from the substrate warranty. We'd rather install and stand behind one system we know inside and out than juggle installation specs and warranty paperwork across multiple fiber cement brands.
What James Hardie Gets Right
The Material
Hardie fiber cement is a mix of Portland cement, sand, and cellulose fiber, cured into a dense, stable board. It doesn't rot, it isn't a food source for moss or insects, and it's non-combustible — a real factor for insurance and for peace of mind, especially given how wildfire risk conversations have shifted across Washington in recent years.
Climate-Engineered Product Lines
Hardie doesn't sell one generic board everywhere. Its HZ5 product line is engineered specifically for climates like ours — cold, wet, freeze-thaw winters — with a formulation built to resist moisture-related damage in exactly the conditions Whatcom County produces every year. That's a meaningful difference from a one-size-fits-all siding product.
ColorPlus Factory Finish
Rather than field-painting siding after installation, Hardie's ColorPlus line applies a baked-on finish at the factory under controlled conditions, which produces more even coverage and better fade resistance than most field-applied paint jobs. It also comes with a dedicated finish warranty, so the color and coating are covered separately from the board itself.
Warranty Structure
Hardie backs its lap and panel siding with a lengthy, transferable limited warranty on the substrate, plus the separate ColorPlus finish warranty. Transferability matters to homeowners planning to sell — it's a concrete asset that shows up in a real estate disclosure, not just a talking point.
Comparing the Options Side by Side
| Factor | Vinyl | LP SmartSide | Cedar | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core material | PVC plastic | Engineered wood strand | Solid natural wood | Cement, sand, cellulose fiber |
| Rot/moisture risk | Low material risk, high seam/joint risk | Moderate to high if finish is breached | Moderate without upkeep | Very low |
| Combustibility | Melts/deforms in heat | Combustible | Combustible | Non-combustible |
| Repainting needed | No (fades, can't repaint to match) | Yes, periodically | Yes, on a regular cycle | Factory finish; repaint on a much longer cycle |
| Moss/algae resistance | Moderate | Low | Low | Moderate to good with proper finish |
| Typical warranty | Prorated, limited | Limited, product-specific | None (natural material) | Long-term, transferable, plus separate finish warranty |
Correct Installation Matters As Much As the Product
Fiber cement siding is only as good as its installation. Hardie's own specifications call out clearances, fastener patterns, and flashing details that are easy to skip and hard to spot once the siding is up. We follow those specs because the difference between a Hardie installation that lasts decades and one that fails early usually isn't the board — it's the details underneath it.
- Minimum 1/4" gap between siding and any roofline, deck, or hardscape to prevent wicking
- Proper weather-resistive barrier and flashing at every window, door, and penetration
- Correct fastener type, spacing, and embedment depth per Hardie's published instructions
- Butt joints and corners sealed or flashed to shed wind-driven rain, not just caulked over
- Field-cut edges primed or sealed before installation, not left exposed
- Adequate rainscreen or drainage plane behind the siding on the wetter, wind-exposed elevations
What This Means If You're Comparing Bids
If you're getting quotes for siding replacement in Ferndale and one contractor is significantly cheaper because they're proposing vinyl or an engineered wood product, that's not automatically a bad bid — it may just be a different set of trade-offs than the ones we've chosen to stand behind. Ask any contractor, including us, what installation standard they follow, what the warranty actually covers (substrate versus finish versus labor), and how they detail moisture management at joints and penetrations. Those answers tell you more about the long-term outcome than the brand name on the box.
If you'd like to talk through your specific house — its exposure, its current siding condition, and what a Hardie installation would look like and cost — we're happy to come take a look and put together a free, no-pressure estimate.