Engineered wood versus fiber-cement: Which has the edge as an attractive, durable, easy-to-install and low-maintenance siding? If the choice is the growing family of SmartSystem™ treated engineered wood sidings and exterior products from LP Corporation, the advantage is all to builders and their customers.

SmartSide™ lap siding is the featured SmartSystem product in the LP Behind the Walls House and can be found installed on the front elevation. Each SmartSide board has three primary components:

Competitive Edge: SmartSide Just like wood: Embossing deepens wood-grain finish. Faster application: Lightweight, plus 16-foot length for 33% more coverage than 12-foot fiber-cement siding. No special cutting tools: Unlike fiber-cement, SmartSide can be cut with standard circular saw blades. Easy to finish: Pre-primed overlay on composite core creates uniform, easy-to-paint surface for faster finishing. Durability: Resists termites, rot, decay, splintering and checking. 30-year warranty: Includes 100% coverage of repair and replacement costs during first seven years.

1) Durable core: The engineered wood substrate is created by blending wafers of oriented strand board (OSB) with various waxes and resins to add strength and moisture resistance. The key additive to this substrate is LP’s SmartGuard™, a borate-based compound that retards fungal decay and stops termites.

2) Paint-ready, pre-primed overlay: To the core is fused a uniform, resin-saturated, paint-base overlay that is pre-primed to make the board more receptive to paint. “Unlike fiber-cement, there is no need to apply a primer,” says David Murphy, LP’s marketing manager for wood-composite siding.

3) Natural-looking texture: The overlay and thesubstrate are fused together under heavy pressure, creating a deeply embossed, nonrepetitive, cedar-grain texture that is more realistic than its fiber-cement counterparts.

Installer-Friendly
The Behind the Walls House features 8-inch-wide SmartSide lap siding, which is also available in 6- and 12-inch widths. All boards measure 3/8 inch thick and 16 feet long, in contrast to the standard 12-foot length of fiber-cement siding. This 33% extra coverage permits quicker installation, and SmartSide siding’s superior strength-to-weight ratio makes it easier to handle. “Despite the extra 4 feet, SmartSide is lighter weight than comparably sized fiber-cement and much less brittle,” Murphy says.

Like all SmartSystem products, SmartSide carries a 30-year warranty that also covers all repair and replacement costs for the first seven years, no matter how many people have owned the home.

Click Here to receive more information on SmartSide Engineered Wood Siding.

Click Here for the company's Web site or call 800/648-6893.