Concord LP Smartside Siding

Concord's ranch and tract homes were built for a certain kind of warmth — long, low horizontal lines that look right with a real wood grain on the wall. If you love that look but have no appetite for the maintenance and fragility of solid cedar or redwood, LP SmartSide is usually the product that ends the search. It's engineered wood: real wood strands bound with resins and waxes, treated all the way through in LP's SmartGuard process, then milled into lap boards, panels, trim, and shakes with a convincing grain. Bay Area Siding Company, a Larkspur-based siding and window contractor, installs SmartSide across Concord for homeowners who want that texture on a board that's tougher and easier to live with than the real thing. Here's how it fits an inland Contra Costa home.

Want the wood look without the wood problems? Call (415) 619-5167 or request a bid.

The engineering, and why it splits the difference

Engineered wood sits between natural wood and fiber cement, and it borrows the strengths of each:

• Real wood texture, not a molded imitation. The grain reads as wood because it largely is wood, so it takes and holds paint beautifully and looks at home on everything from a 1960s ranch off Clayton Road to a newer subdivision house toward the eastern hills.
• Lighter than fiber cement. SmartSide weighs a fraction of what cement board does, which makes it easier to handle and, on many jobs, faster and less labor-intensive to install cleanly.
• Impact resistance. Engineered wood takes a hit — a stray ball, a ladder, a thrown rock from the mower — better than the more brittle cement board, which can chip or crack on a sharp blow.
• Long boards, fewer seams. SmartSide comes in long lengths, so a wall runs with fewer butt joints and a cleaner line.

The SmartGuard treatment is engineered to resist the fungal decay and termite damage that plague untreated wood, and the product carries a well-regarded, long-term limited warranty. We'll walk you through the specific terms for your project rather than quoting a headline figure.

Two honest caveats for Concord

SmartSide is a wood-based product, and that brings two things you should weigh before you commit.

First, it needs paint upkeep. SmartSide ships primed, and factory-prefinished options exist, but the finish is what protects it over the long run — and in Concord's hot, high-UV summers a paint film does real work. You'll get years from a quality coat, but plan on repainting on a longer cycle to keep the warranty and the wall healthy. It's dramatically less demanding than natural wood, but it isn't the near-zero-paint story that factory-finished fiber cement offers.

Second, and more decisive for some addresses, it's combustible. Most of Concord sits on flat valley floor with no fire-zone designation, so for the majority of homes this isn't a factor. But Cal Fire's updated maps, adopted locally in 2025, place High and in spots Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones along the city's southeastern edges — around and south of Ygnacio Valley Road near the Cal State East Bay campus, Crystyl Ranch, and the Lime Ridge and Thurgood Marshall Regional Park slopes, under the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire). On a parcel where California Building Code Chapter 7A governs the exterior wall, a noncombustible cladding — fiber cement — is generally the appropriate call, and SmartSide may not be. Whether the code applies depends on your parcel designation and scope, which we confirm with the City. If you're up near those hills, raise it with us early; if you're on the valley floor, SmartSide is squarely in the running.

SmartSide against the alternatives

Where it lands versus the materials you're probably comparing:

• vs. natural wood: a comparable look with far better rot and pest resistance, more impact toughness, and much less maintenance — for most people who "want wood," it's the smarter buy.
• vs. fiber cement: fiber cement is noncombustible and needs less repainting; SmartSide is lighter, warmer in texture, and more impact-resistant. On a fire-zone parcel, fiber cement wins on code; away from it, the choice is look, feel, and budget.
• vs. vinyl: SmartSide reads as genuine wood where vinyl reads as vinyl, and it's more rigid — but vinyl never needs paint and costs less.

The broader material decision lives on the Concord siding replacement page.

Installation and permitting

SmartSide rewards a clean install. After the old siding is off, we inspect the sheathing and substrate, confirm a sound water-resistive barrier, and correct flashing at windows, doors, and penetrations. SmartSide is then installed to LP's specification — fastening, clearances above grade and roofline, joint treatment, and finish coat all matter for the warranty to hold. Exterior siding work in Concord is permitted through the City of Concord Building Division, and we pull the permit and manage the inspections.

What drives the cost

No two SmartSide jobs price the same. The drivers: the size and height of the home, lap versus panel versus shake profiles, whether you choose primed-for-paint or a prefinished option, how much substrate or dry-rot repair appears once the old cladding is off, trim detail, and site access. Because SmartSide is lighter and installs efficiently, labor can run a touch leaner than a comparable fiber-cement job — but the accurate number always comes from a walkthrough.

FAQ

How often will I need to repaint LP SmartSide in Concord? Less often than natural wood, more often than factory-finished fiber cement. A quality coat holds for years, but Concord's inland UV means the finish is doing real work, so plan on a repaint cycle to protect the boards and keep the warranty valid. We'll give you a realistic interval for your color and exposure.

Is SmartSide OK near Crystyl Ranch or the Lime Ridge slopes? It's an engineered-wood product and is combustible, so on a Chapter 7A parcel it may not be the right choice — noncombustible fiber cement usually is. We verify your parcel's designation with the City before recommending it. Most of Concord's flat neighborhoods aren't in a mapped zone.

Does SmartSide really resist rot and termites? The SmartGuard treatment is engineered to resist fungal decay and termite damage, which is its main edge over untreated natural wood. It still needs its finish maintained and correct clearances at installation to perform as intended.

Is engineered wood as durable as fiber cement? Different strengths. SmartSide handles impact better and is lighter to work with; fiber cement is noncombustible and needs less repainting. Neither is simply "better" — it turns on your parcel, your look, and how much painting you want to sign up for.

Get an LP SmartSide bid for your Concord home

Call (415) 619-5167 or request a bid. We'll walk the house, confirm whether the fire zone affects your parcel, and price a SmartSide install accurately. Comparing wood-look options? See natural wood and fiber cement, or the full Concord siding replacement overview. We serve Contra Costa County; browse finished work in the project gallery.