LP Smartside vs. James Hardie Siding

I’ve installed both of these products on hundreds of homes across McHenry County. I have strong opinions about both. And I’m going to tell you exactly what I tell homeowners when they’re standing in their driveway trying to decide.

Quick Answer: Which One Should You Pick?

That table gives you the short version. But the real answer depends on your house, your budget, and how long you plan to stay. So let me break it down the way I’d explain it if we were standing in your yard.

1. James Hardie Fiber Cement: The Tank

Hardie board is cement. That’s the simplest way to think about it. It’s made from Portland cement, sand, and cellulose fibers pressed into planks. Pick one up at a job site and you’ll notice immediately — it’s heavy. A 12-foot plank weighs about 20 pounds.

That weight is the reason it performs the way it does. Hail? Doesn’t care. Wind-driven rain? Rolls right off. A woodpecker that spent three weeks destroying your old cedar siding? Good luck pecking through cement.

We’ve been a James Hardie Preferred Remodeler for years. That’s not a title you buy — Hardie makes you earn it through training, installation volume, and customer feedback scores. In McHenry County, there are maybe four or five contractors with that certification. We’re one of them.

What I Like About Hardie

• It does not rot. Period. There’s no wood in it to rot. I’ve pulled 25-year-old Hardie planks off homes in Crystal Lake that looked like they could go another 25.
• ColorPlus finish is factory-applied. That means your color is baked on in a controlled environment, not sprayed by a painter on a humid Tuesday. It resists fading for 15+ years and comes with its own 15-year finish warranty covering peeling, cracking, and chipping. We’ve seen it hold up even on south-facing walls along Route 14 that get hammered by sun all day.
• Non-combustible. For homes near wooded lots — and there are a lot of those in Cary, Bull Valley, and parts of Crystal Lake — this matters. It won’t ignite from a stray ember during a brush fire.
• Hardie’s 30-year non-prorated warranty on the siding substrate is one of the best in the industry. That means if the fiber cement itself is defective in year 20, they don’t prorate the claim down to nothing — they cover it. The ColorPlus paint finish has a separate 15-year warranty. Two warranties on one product.

What I Don’t Like About Hardie

I’m going to be honest because I think you deserve that.

• Installation is more labor-intensive. Hardie is heavy, brittle, and dusty to cut. That means slightly longer install times and more specialized labor — though the material cost for both products has converged. LP has raised prices over the past couple years while Hardie has held steady to gain market share, so the installed cost is very similar now.
• Installation requires more skill. It takes a crew that knows what they’re doing. A bad Hardie installation — wrong nailing, no gap at seams, skipped flashing — will fail faster than a good vinyl job. This is why the installer matters as much as the product.
• It can crack if nailed wrong. Over-driven nails or nails too close to the edge will crack the plank. We see this on DIY jobs and work done by crews that usually do vinyl. Once it’s cracked, moisture gets in and the plank is compromised.

2. LP SmartSide: The Sleeper Pick

SmartSide doesn’t get the marketing buzz that Hardie gets. But it’s a seriously good product, and I think a lot of homeowners overlook it.

It’s engineered wood — wood strands bonded with resin and treated with zinc borate (a natural insecticide and fungicide). The result is a plank that looks and feels like real wood but handles moisture and insects far better than natural cedar or pine ever could.

We’re an LP SmartSide Preferred Installer, which is LP’s version of saying “these guys know what they’re doing with our product.” Same idea as the Hardie certification — training, volume, and accountability.

What I Like About SmartSide

• The wood grain is deep. If you want your house to look like it has real cedar siding without the maintenance nightmare of actual cedar, SmartSide is the move. Stand 10 feet away and you genuinely cannot tell the difference. We did a job on a 1960s ranch in Woodstock last fall — the homeowners wanted that classic wood look to match the neighborhood character. SmartSide nailed it.
• It’s lighter and easier to work with. That means faster installation and less risk of cracking during install. For crews, that translates to fewer mistakes on the wall.
• Priced competitively with Hardie. LP has raised SmartSide pricing over the past couple years, and Hardie has been holding prices to compete for market share. The result? Installed cost for both products is very close now — which means the decision comes down to performance and look, not budget.
• It takes paint beautifully. If you want to change your house color in 10 years, SmartSide sands and paints like real wood. Hardie can be painted too, but SmartSide is more forgiving.

What I Don’t Like About SmartSide

• It’s still wood. Engineered, treated, resin-bonded wood — but wood. In a climate like ours where we get 38 inches of rain and 35 inches of snow annually, long-term moisture performance matters. SmartSide handles it well with proper installation and caulking, but Hardie handles it better because there’s simply no wood to absorb anything.
• Butt joints need attention. Where two SmartSide planks meet end-to-end, you need to caulk and maintain that joint. If it opens up over time and moisture gets behind it, you’ve got a problem. We see this on older SmartSide installations where the original caulk dried out and nobody re-sealed it.
• Not fireproof. It has a good flame spread rating, but it will burn. For homes backing up to prairie or wooded areas in places like Bull Valley or the edges of Marengo, Hardie is the safer choice.

How Both Handle McHenry County Weather

This is where it gets real. We’re not in San Diego. Our siding has to survive:

• 100+ freeze-thaw cycles per winter
• Summer humidity that keeps walls damp for days
• Hailstorms that roll through 3-5 times per season
• Wind gusts over 60 mph during spring and fall storms
• Woodpeckers (laugh if you want, but we get calls about this constantly)

Hardie wins on raw durability. Cement doesn’t expand and contract with moisture the way wood does. It doesn’t care about humidity. Hail that would dent vinyl or chip SmartSide just bounces off Hardie.

SmartSide wins on flexibility. Because it has some give to it, SmartSide is actually less likely to crack from impact than Hardie. A baseball hits your Hardie siding? It might crack the plank. Same baseball hits SmartSide? It’ll probably just leave a dent you can fill and paint over.

Both products perform well in our freeze-thaw cycles when installed correctly. The key phrase is “installed correctly.” Bad installation will ruin either product. And I’ve seen plenty of both.

Cost Breakdown: What You’ll Actually Pay in McHenry County

These are real numbers from projects we’ve done in the past 12 months. Not national averages. Not “starting at” marketing numbers.

Those ranges include tear-off of old siding, house wrap, material, labor, trim, soffit, fascia, and cleanup. What pushes you to the higher end? Multi-story homes (scaffolding adds cost), a lot of windows and doors to trim around, and custom color options.

We offer financing on both products if you’d rather spread the cost over monthly payments.

So Which One Do I Recommend?

Both. Seriously.

I wouldn’t install a product I didn’t believe in, and we’re certified by both manufacturers because both make excellent siding. But here’s how I think about it when a homeowner asks me to choose:

Go with James Hardie if:

• You plan to stay in your home 15+ years
• You want zero maintenance beyond an occasional wash
• Your house is in a fire-prone area or near wooded lots
• You want the strongest warranty in the business
• You want the longest-lasting siding on the market

Go with LP SmartSide if:

• You love the look of real wood siding
• You want a premium product with that authentic wood character
• You might want to repaint in a different color someday
• Your home has a lot of architectural detail that benefits from a lighter, more workable material

And one more thing — these two products are priced almost identically now. LP has raised SmartSide prices over the past couple years while Hardie has been holding steady to compete for market share. So this really is a decision about performance characteristics and curb appeal, not budget. Pick the product that fits your home’s style and your long-term plans.

What About Vinyl?

I know some of you are wondering. Vinyl siding still has a place. If your budget is under $15,000 for a full house, or you’re re-siding a rental property, premium vinyl is a reasonable choice. It’s come a long way from the wavy, faded stuff that went on tract homes in the early 2000s.

But if you’re choosing between Hardie and SmartSide, you’ve already decided you want something better. Good call.

Common Questions We Get