Thanks to all for the responses. mightyanvil: Can you tell me where LP says it has to be painted every 3-5 years? Is that stated in any literature? The local company that we're using to paint the siding (whether its Hardie, Certainteed, whatever) offers a 2 coat 25 year warranty. But I'll have to ask if that's for fiber cement only. The LP 5 year finish warranty for Smartside states: 2. Five-Year Finish Warranty. LP Warrants the finish on its LP SmartSide Foundations 7/16" Prefinished Panel Siding against peeling, blistering, cracking, or erosion of the factory finish, except for reasonable fade from normal weathering, for a period of five years from the date of installation under normal conditions of use and exposure. If the finish fails, LP will at its option either pay the Owner 100% of the reasonable cost of refinishing the affected siding with one coat of paint or opaque stain, not to exceed twice the original purchase price of the siding, or provide uninstalled LP SmartSide Foundations Prefinished Siding as a replacement. kcthatsme: can you tell me how the TruWood compared price-wise to other siding you considered? I hadn't seen it before and it looks interesting. thanks again.

Lousiana Pacific (LP) makes SmartSide Cedar Shakes imitative siding which are not cedar nor are they shakes. This product made is made in two kinds of preservative treated substrates covered with a resin saturated paper face: one is made of engineered strands (best for simulated raised wood grain) and the other of engineered fibers (best for smooth surface).

Would love to hear from anyone who used a white from the Hardie “dream collection”…I’m renovating a colonial and want a true white. The arctic white is very popular where I live and it definitely appears gray, especially next to white Azek trim and it’s not the e look I’m going for.

We are also having a million dollar house built and while watching our siding being installed in the rain, several things the installers said raised red flags. I downloaded LP SmartSide installation instructions and found that our nails are seriously overdriven, the ends of the planks are not painted, the butt joints have no space between them, and given all of that, I doubt that the flashing was done correctly, or anything else for that matter. We gave a copy of the instructions to our GC and he said he would have someone come and check it. We have been extremely upset, knowing that we have NO warranty on our siding as it is. I even called LP and they confirmed. They said he is going to have to bite the bullet and replace all of it. From what he said the day we met with him over this issue, he thinks he’s going to fix it. There is NO way to fix it. If they try to cut the boards to create gaps, they’ll cut the Tyvek under it. As it is, I think a lot of Tyvek will need to be replaced when they remove the existing siding because it will be full of nail holes. Construction has moved along very slowly and we just want to get moved in. Replacing the siding will have to wait, but it’s going to be very unpleasant if we need to hold back back enough money to cover new siding when it comes time to make our final payment and move in. Any suggestions on dealing with our GC on that, or do we just pay in full and ask for a written agreement that the siding will be replaced within the first year? No way the original installers will be doing the replacement. It took them FIVE MONTHS to finish the install. The siding was on pallets outside through many rainstorms. It’s the textured, but it should not have been out in the rain as it was. We’ve lost so much sleep over this!