Welcome back! Last post from this series we quickly covered 3 hard boards that are a hot topic: LP Smartside, James Hardie Fiber Cement, and Royal Celect siding. If you missed it and want to catch up- Click Here! Part 2 is all about LP Smartside: it’s history, material make-up, the pros, and the cons.
History
LP (Louisiana Pacific) had a product in the late 90’s called Inner Seal that prematurely rotted causing de-lamination, color changes, and sometimes fungi growth. A large class-action lawsuit was brought on by homeowners, shareholders, and even an attorney general! LP worked as quickly as they could to pay out all losses and begin reformulating their failed product they still believed in. This massive public failure birthed LP Smartside. LP actually boasts about this lawsuit when questioned about potential moisture management issues for Smartside. Not only did they learn from their product mistakes, they stood behind it and made sure their customers were taken care of correctly and as fast as possible. Not every company is known for being fast to pay out warranties that are due.
Material Make-up
LP Smartside is made up of a mixture of binders, waxes, and zinc borate all throughout the wood strands and is finally bonded with a water-resistant, resin-saturated overlay. The wood used in Smartside products comes from a renewable forest; the binders and resins coating this wood make it high-impact proof. It can withstand golfballs, hail, rocks from lawn mower, balls, bikes, or nearly anything else that might hit it. The waxes and resins make the wood water resistant wile the Zinc borate helps protect against algae, fungi, insects, or any other pesky pests.
Pros
There are so many wonderful benefits to LP Smartside ranging every degree from purely aesthetic reasons to endurance qualities. Like most hardboards, LP Smartside has a commanding appearance over vinyl siding. Smartside looks exactly like real cedar siding but a fraction of the real wood maintenance.
Larger reveal siding is starting to re-surface in siding trends. If you are looking at vinyl products, wider reveals are scarce (if any!). LP Smartside offers widths up to 8″, 12″, and 16″ depending on style and you can choose between woodgrain or smooth surface. You also can go to Sherwin Williams and pick out any one of their paint colors and have LP match the color exactly!
This siding has a very high impact rating. Many insurance companies offer a break when your siding (or shingles) reach a certain level of impact rating. Like you read in an earlier paragraph – durable siding will withstand hail, golf balls, balls, bikes, rocks from mowers, birds, or almost anything that hits it.
Depending on your contractor, LP Smartside can either be equal to or less than the cost of Fiber Cement siding because it’s slightly easier to work with. It’s easier to work with because you don’t need special blades to cut or work with it, lighter weight, and it doesn’t produce silica dust.
Cons
Like most specialty products, the warranties are preserved by your original installers and preventative maintenance. If your contractor doesn’t know the ins and outs of proper install for LP Smartside, your warranty will be voided or worse- your beautiful siding could fail!
Every hardboard siding requires some amount of gapping to allow for expansion and contraction. This fluctuation happens as the siding starts to acclimate to current weather conditions and as it endures the 4 seasons. Since LP is a dry manufacturing process, the initial gap is left with the intention for the siding to swell slightly. Behind each gap, a pan flashing detail, the same color as your siding, will be installed to disguise the gap. Visually speaking, some homeowners do not like the look of the gap. There also needs to be a 1″ clearance on all roof lines and a 6″ ground clearance. This spacing is reserved for expansion and contraction. The gapping along roof lines is covered with a metal detail that some homeowners find distracting.
While the warranty for LP is phenomenal (Click here to read it), if you don’t stay on top of caulking maintenance you will void the warranty. Areas that need to be re-caulked roughly every 3-5 years are around windows, corners, and any trim details. Most installers familiar with LP Smartside will do a “healthy” amount of caulking when they install – They know it might be an easy, but detrimental, thing to slip the homeowner’s mind.
Conclusion
If you are looking for siding product this actually made out of wood – LP Smartside is the product for you! It looks just like cedar siding, comes in many wider reveals, impact resistant, requires minimal maintenance compared to real wood siding.
Next Up: James Hardie Fiber Cement Siding
