LP Smartside siding

[Kevin54]

Has anyone used this product, and if so, what do you think of it?

When I was speaking with the contractors salesman yesterday, he mentioned LP's Smartside over Cedar. Currently all of the other buildings (house, wifes craft shed, and shed. He said it is a special OSB product with a cedar looking pattern on top. It can't be stained, but can be painted, and can be matched to our house color now.

Also, if it has to be painted instead of stained, I've use a latex stain on vinyl siding before, and was totally surprised as to how many years it actually held up.

But basically I'm looking for anyone that has used it on their builds. The salesman told me it's about a third of the cost of actual cedar siding.

 

[PFSard]

I just installed it on a Utility Room at the rear of my house. Looks good painted. Time will tell on longevity in this AZ heat. Here are some links I found in GJ :

LP Smartside
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86692

LP SmartSide Trim & Siding Family
http://www.lpcorp.com/smartside/

 

[rburke65]

I installed it on the inside of my shop. I think it was 7/16" and as you describe, an OSB type of product with wood grain in the outside surface, with a lap joint. The back side isn't rough though, like an OSB, it's very smooth and much smaller "chips". For my interior project, I liked it. It think that they claim it's Pre primed. My neighbor had it on his garage and he found that keeping the lower, ground level, exposed edge seal with paint is necessary....or at least he felt that it was.

 

[Bearkat]

I used it on the workshop at my old house. Went up well and held up well for the years I lived there after (about 3). Was primed and took latex Paint well. I would use it again

 

[motorcycle79]

I sided my house and garage with it about 4 years ago the factory painted stuff..so far so good. Only issue I have is after a few years in the sun the caulk **** joints faded a little bit not to bad tho. Should have been more careful caulking.. I also primed the first row on the back as it was bare Osb.

 

[Mandres]

Having been bitten by rotting Masonite siding on my house there is no way I'll ever consider a wood-composite product for exterior use again.

There is absolutely no reason to go with this stuff over fiber cement. It's not any cheaper.

 

[GR14]

Having been bitten by rotting Masonite siding on my house there is no way I'll ever consider a wood-composite product for exterior use again.

There is absolutely no reason to go with this stuff over fiber cement. It's not any cheaper.

I saved several thousand by going with LP over fiber cement on my house. It is far lighter and easier to work with. You don't have to wear a respirator like you do with fiber cement. Is doesn't crack when you shoot a nail through it like I have seen fiber cement do.

I got a sample of each, broke them in half and put the broken pieces in a bucket of water for months before deciding which to use. The LP held up better than the fiber cement.

Cedar and LP are apples and oranges. Rough cedar looks nice but the maintenance gets old.

 

[Falcon67]

I used it as siding on the old shop - worked great and is still working. Holds paint pretty well, but you might have to use a couple of coats. I used it for trim on the new shop. The new box is Hardi - I'd probably been fine with LP. All of the above about Hardi - plus it gets damn hot in the sun. Real hot.

 

[coljar]

I've used it inside my garage, above and below the slat wall board. Sorry about the lousy picture. I'm on vacation (bike week)in Myrtle Beach and can't take a better picture right now.

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[Zick]

Can't give you much details on it but when we had our house built in 09', we used Smartside. We got it factory painted which is suppose to be a 25yr finish.

So far no complaints about it except for the maybe the color choice.

 

[Falcon67]

I should add that the 1x4 LP trim I used around the windows on the back of the building in 2010 are still waiting on paint. Still looks like it did when I nailed it up. I really need to get around to painting that stuff. Painted LP trims the shop overhead and man door. Both get a lot of water exposure - the big door from rain and gutter drips and the man door from rain and lawn sprinklers. Man door gets a lot of sprinkler water, actually. And it faces west so it gets the full beat of the sun. After almost 4 years, no changes.

 

[GYPSY400]

I'm not a fan of vinyl.. Went with This instead




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[30cal]

I used it on my shed, I like it. 4x8 panels, not the horizontal siding, although it's made of the same stuff. light and easy to work with. This is a 12x16 shed with 8x8 wings, tin roof, for wood...took just over a gallon to paint. It comes with a factory baked on primer, doesn't **** paint like t-111 plywood does. They claim a 50 year warranty for bugs and rot ( who knows ,we'll see). It will withstand hail stones and my best fast-ball way better than the cement stuff..

old pic

 

[Cooter's]

I used it on my shed (Turbo Coop) as well. Trim and Panels, but I wish I'd done something a little different with the trim as it seems to have warped some in areas without full support (fascia and eaves), but it's not too bad.

Cooter's

 

[glider]

So it's decided then, it is a bad *** product! Proper caulk and paint and it will last a long time!

 

[Kevin54]

So it's decided then, it is a bad *** product! Proper caulk and paint and it will last a long time!

I guess that settles that then. I'll be covering the entire garage with LP Smartside, and paint it to match the house.

That's one thing that has always been sort of a thorn in my side was that the garage has never matched the house. At the time I built the garage, Cedar was out of the budget, so I sided the garage in a tan vinyl.

I imagine I can sell what is on the garage now for enough to get a few cases of beer. I'll let whoever wants it though, take it off.

I'm looking forward to getting things going, but I can do anything until I hear back from the contractor as far as price, then it will be around 30 days to close on the loan, before we can get started. I have a problem with patience

 

[Kevin54]

Glider......You have a great looking place!!!! Is that another shed back off to the right?

 

[Tripp2012]

Another vote for smartside great product.

View media item 32207

 

[glider]

Thanks Kevin, a 10'x20' saltbox style.

 

[Kevin54]

Thanks Kevin, a 10'x20' saltbox style.

VERY nice!!!!! How much property do you have? Any other pics from the back corner forward? The yellow and white against the green of the grass makes everything really clean looking. That's about the color that the wife has in her craft building. Sort of a calm, clean, but cheerful color.

I'm interested in seeing a view from the back, forward, as i see you have a small fence, and momma is wanting me to do something similar for the two small dogs.


-

 

[glider]

Thanks again Kevin. We have 9 acres and mow about 5 of it. The fence has worked out well.

 

[borgdog]

Nice place glider!

I've used both the LP smartside and smart trim and fiber cement siding, and although the LP is lighter and somewhat easier to work with (fiber cement shears are awesome! little to no dust) I prefer the fiber cement look and feel, not to mention the added fire protection.

 

[Kevin54]

Wow glider......That place looks fantastic. I can only wish ours looked that good. We have a very odd shaped lot, and the only straight line is the road. from there things angle out to the back. The house was set skewed to the road a hair, and then I had the garage built square with the house. So when I mow between my garage and neighbors yard, I have to cheat the mower 4 feet onto his property from the front pin, then cheat 4' onto my property from the back pin, just to make the yards look straight. If I mow from pin to pin, it looks odd when driving by. That's the only reason i haven't ran a fence down between the properties.

I know if I had your place, I'd be having a place to kick back at the rear of the property. That has to be relaxing as all get out.

 

[david63]

Also thinking of using this inside my garage.

 

[backintheday]

I used the stained "cedar style" with the 4" trim boards. Turned out great and very easy to work with. I will be using it on my shop as well. I can take some better pictures if you want this was from last fall.

 

[backintheday]

I've used it inside my garage, above and below the slat wall board. Sorry about the lousy picture. I'm on vacation (bike week)in Myrtle Beach and can't take a better picture right now.

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I like what you got going on here, any chance you can post a few more pictures of your interior when you get a chance?
I wouldn't be upset if you threw in a few pics of bike week either. I was big into sport bikes in a previous life.

 

[coljar]

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[/url][/IMG]Here's a couple more. Bike week was great at the beach, but I didn't take hardly any pictures. Most of the people I ran into turned their noses up at Triumph Bonneville's, so I didn't take any pictures of their Harleys, not that I don't like Harleys. Our group kind of kept to ourselves up in the north part. Sorry for the derail.

 

[backintheday]

Sorry for hijacking the thread...
I like the timber look, I might have to steal that. Thanks for the pics.
Isn't there a lot more to look at at bike week then harleys???

 

[smithred67]

I just used in on my new shed project and liked how easy it was to install. Not sure about durability yet, but I plan to prime the bottom edge really well to avoid moisture problems.

 

[69lm69gp]

30cal,

You say you used the 4x8 sheets. Were the grooves as wide as T1-11? And how thick are the sheets? I am looking for something that looks like shiplap siding but without the issue if wood, like the sap bleeding through the paint.

 

[30cal]

You can get it 8", 4", or 0" on the width of the "boards". I used 3/8" on the thickness, it's rated structural on 16 inch centers, but I also used old school "let in" braces. If you build with studs on 24", they make it in a 5/8" panel, which will give you the structural rating, but of course the price (and weight) almost doubles.. Painting is the sweet spot of this stuff, I'll never use plywood for siding again.

 

[wssix99]

Having been bitten by rotting Masonite siding on my house there is no way I'll ever consider a wood-composite product for exterior use again.

There is absolutely no reason to go with this stuff over fiber cement. It's not any cheaper.

Hardboard siding isn't even a comparison. BTW - Fiber cement can be 2X the cost depending on the heights involved, just due to the added weight and effort required to install it.


This thread is making me feel better/excited about the SmartSide we have about to go up on our house. It's on order and being per-painted by the supplier. Hopefully it will be done soon (I'll try to remember to post a pic) because my house is tired of being naked.

 

[Kevin54]

Kevin54, you had asked a question about latex paint vs. latex stain, for LP SmartSide engineered wood siding, which is specifically designed with our SmartGuard process to resist moisture.

There are multiple ways to get the stained look that you desire in a formulation that will work well with LP SmartSide siding. Please consider sharing the below instructions with your paint supplier to get the best result.

Latex paint and stain are both acrylic finishes. It is common for acrylic finishes to erode over time beginning at the outer surface until the dry film reduces to a point that the siding needs to be refinished with a fresh coat of paint. Solid stains generally have fewer solids than paints and subsequently develop thinner dry films. Solid stains typically need to be reapplied more often because of the lower solids content.

Transparent and semi-transparent stains (acrylic or alkyd) are designed to penetrate leaving little film to protect the siding. Transparent and semi-transparent stains, while popular for drawing out the natural grain of solid wood, do not work on LP SmartSide because of the overlaid surface. There are machine-applied acrylic paint systems available through the LP network of prefinishers that produce the look of transparent or semi-transparent stains.

High-quality acrylic latex paint, specially formulated for use on wood and engineered wood substrates, is highly recommended. Semi-gloss or satin finish oil or alkyd paints are acceptable. For flat alkyd paint, please check with the coating manufacturer for its recommendation for use on composite wood siding.

Hope this info is helpful to you. Very best wishes to you on your garage project. Thank you, Patrick

That makes perfect sense, and thank you for your reply. I'm almost positive that I am going to go with the LP Smartside on the project.....IF I can ever get a contractor to give me a price It's been 5 weeks now. And it's going to take that long on a refinance to close. I've asked the one contractor 3 times now, so I spoke with one from out of town, and he's been a week.

Good God how long does it take for something simple

 

[Kevin54]

You can get it 8", 4", or 0" on the width of the "boards". I used 3/8" on the thickness, it's rated structural on 16 inch centers, but I also used old school "let in" braces. If you build with studs on 24", they make it in a 5/8" panel, which will give you the structural rating, but of course the price (and weight) almost doubles.. Painting is the sweet spot of this stuff, I'll never use plywood for siding again.

Oh c'mon now....even I know that if I have a board that is 0" wide, I won't have a board at all. I'll just be holding air

 

[finn]

Looks like I'LL be the first negative on the stuff.

We're putting a 30' x 16' addition on our fir sided cabin. Asked the contractor about the LP as a lower cost alternative to the 5/8" fir. He flat out refused to use it because of bad experience with it

Wasn't a cost issue with him either. Said our winters kill the stuff.

 

[BUGTHUG]

I'm not sure if what I had on my home about 15 years ago was called smartside, but it was made by LP. I just built my home in 94, put up the LP siding that was 12" wide, had the factory gray primer.
I bought Valspar paint from Lowes and painted the whole house. About 1 year later I noticed paint was peeling off the house in different places, under the eves, under the kitchen window, above the garage doors. I went to Lowes and showed them pictures, they sent out a rep from Valspar and he said it looks like moisture was under the paint. So he said they would refund my money on the paint, give me a new warner 12' ladder and a Kurcher power sprayer for the problems. I was somewhat happy that I got something out of the trouble.
Then about 6 months later I was talking to the guy that sold me the LP siding, he was an old high school acquaintance, and he said that LP was having problems with their siding and they were sending around reps to look at it. Well come to find out it was a BIG CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT. The glues they used and the process and what ever else, was causing the siding to rot from the inside out, you could touch the places were the paint lifted and it was saw dust. I had spent over $14,000.00 on this siding, not including labor. They had some formula, and was offered 2200.00 for what was damaged. My whole siding came from the same run or bunch of material, so I just had a feeling that there were going to be more problems with the rest of it. I had a hard time getting LP to pay, they filed bankruptcy and some states wouldn't allow them to sell the siding.
After this pain in the ***, of having new siding with a 10 year warranty, because they filed bankruptcy they got out of paying a lot of the claims.
I had to pay a contractor to pull all the LP off and went with James Harding boards. Its the best stuff ever. Period. Its been on my house for over 17 years and it looks like it was put on yesterday. You might look up info on the LP lawsuit, it might change your mind. If you want something cheaper, or cost is the main reason for a decision, then that's something else, but if you plan on staying in your home for awhile I believe James Harding will out last the ownership. For what its worth

 

[Kevin54]

I'm not sure if what I had on my home about 15 years ago was called smartside, but it was made by LP. I just built my home in 94, put up the LP siding that was 12" wide, had the factory gray primer.
I bought Valspar paint from Lowes and painted the whole house. About 1 year later I noticed paint was peeling off the house in different places, under the eves, under the kitchen window, above the garage doors. I went to Lowes and showed them pictures, they sent out a rep from Valspar and he said it looks like moisture was under the paint. So he said they would refund my money on the paint, give me a new warner 12' ladder and a Kurcher power sprayer for the problems. I was somewhat happy that I got something out of the trouble.
Then about 6 months later I was talking to the guy that sold me the LP siding, he was an old high school acquaintance, and he said that LP was having problems with their siding and they were sending around reps to look at it. Well come to find out it was a BIG CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT. The glues they used and the process and what ever else, was causing the siding to rot from the inside out, you could touch the places were the paint lifted and it was saw dust. I had spent over $14,000.00 on this siding, not including labor. They had some formula, and was offered 2200.00 for what was damaged. My whole siding came from the same run or bunch of material, so I just had a feeling that there were going to be more problems with the rest of it. I had a hard time getting LP to pay, they filed bankruptcy and some states wouldn't allow them to sell the siding.
After this pain in the ***, of having new siding with a 10 year warranty, because they filed bankruptcy they got out of paying a lot of the claims.
I had to pay a contractor to pull all the LP off and went with James Harding boards. Its the best stuff ever. Period. Its been on my house for over 17 years and it looks like it was put on yesterday. You might look up info on the LP lawsuit, it might change your mind. If you want something cheaper, or cost is the main reason for a decision, then that's something else, but if you plan on staying in your home for awhile I believe James Harding will out last the ownership. For what its worth

Are you sure it was LP and not GP (Georgia Pacific) and the siding was along the lines of compressed paper, or just about what Masonite was? It would delaminate and a lot of places would actually grow toad stools out of the siding. There was a HUGE class action lawsuit with it.

 

[Casey69]

I'm not sure if what I had on my home about 15 years ago was called smartside, but it was made by LP. I just built my home in 94, put up the LP siding that was 12" wide, had the factory gray primer.
I bought Valspar paint from Lowes and painted the whole house. About 1 year later I noticed paint was peeling off the house in different places, under the eves, under the kitchen window, above the garage doors. I went to Lowes and showed them pictures, they sent out a rep from Valspar and he said it looks like moisture was under the paint. So he said they would refund my money on the paint, give me a new warner 12' ladder and a Kurcher power sprayer for the problems. I was somewhat happy that I got something out of the trouble.
Then about 6 months later I was talking to the guy that sold me the LP siding, he was an old high school acquaintance, and he said that LP was having problems with their siding and they were sending around reps to look at it. Well come to find out it was a BIG CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT. The glues they used and the process and what ever else, was causing the siding to rot from the inside out, you could touch the places were the paint lifted and it was saw dust. I had spent over $14,000.00 on this siding, not including labor. They had some formula, and was offered 2200.00 for what was damaged. My whole siding came from the same run or bunch of material, so I just had a feeling that there were going to be more problems with the rest of it. I had a hard time getting LP to pay, they filed bankruptcy and some states wouldn't allow them to sell the siding.
After this pain in the ***, of having new siding with a 10 year warranty, because they filed bankruptcy they got out of paying a lot of the claims.
I had to pay a contractor to pull all the LP off and went with James Harding boards. Its the best stuff ever. Period. Its been on my house for over 17 years and it looks like it was put on yesterday. You might look up info on the LP lawsuit, it might change your mind. If you want something cheaper, or cost is the main reason for a decision, then that's something else, but if you plan on staying in your home for awhile I believe James Harding will out last the ownership. For what its worth

i've seen a ton of houses constructed in the 90's with that old hardboard garbage; it'd literally disintegrate in your hands if it wasn't maintained to the "t". don't know if it was louisiana pacific or georgia pacific, but whatever they charged for it was too much!

i'm assuming the stuff is better now? maybe the lp guy can chime in again & offer some reassurance?

 

[Kevin54]

I used the stained "cedar style" with the 4" trim boards. Turned out great and very easy to work with. I will be using it on my shop as well. I can take some better pictures if you want this was from last fall.

BACK....sorry that I did not see your reply. Do you have a couple closeup pics of it? I'd be really interested to see a couple.

I just used in on my new shed project and liked how easy it was to install. Not sure about durability yet, but I plan to prime the bottom edge really well to avoid moisture problems.

Smith....do you have any left? If you have a short piece, can you snap the piece in half maybe and post up what it looks like? I may have to go to one of the boxstores and pick up a piece for myself. I know when I was speaking with the Menards salesman, he was telling me about the 50 year warranty, and so far, all except one in the replies seemed to be satisfied with it.

 

[BUGTHUG]

It was LP. I was so pissed off that I spent so much money then to have that happen and they got out of paying almost nothing because of the bankruptcy. They had hugh townhouses and apartments covered with this stuff, and it had all failed. I had some kind of brown mold spores and the rest you could just touch it and it would disappear in your hands.
Just google lp siding, or lawsuit.