Fairfax LP Smartside Siding

Fairfax is a wood-and-canopy town. The cabins, cottages, and Craftsman homes tucked into the Ross Valley hills were built to look like they belong under the trees, and a lot of owners re-siding here don't want to trade that warmth for something that reads as plastic or cement. LP SmartSide is the material that most often answers that wish: it's engineered wood, so it gives you a genuine wood grain and a substantial, real-lumber feel, but it's treated to hold up far better than solid cedar or redwood. Bay Area Siding Company installs it throughout Marin.

Want the wood look done right? Call (415) 619-5167 or request an estimate.

What LP SmartSide actually is

SmartSide is made from wood strands bonded with resins and treated through LP's SmartGuard process — a combination of borate treatment and a resin-saturated overlay that makes it far more resistant to moisture, fungal decay, and termites than raw wood. It comes as lap boards, panels, trim, and shake profiles, primed and ready for paint. The result is a board that looks and works like wood — you cut it with wood tools, it takes paint beautifully, and it carries a deep, authentic grain — without the split-and-rot vulnerability that makes solid wood a hard sell on a shaded Fairfax lot.

Its practical edges over fiber cement:

• Warmer, more dimensional wood texture — closer to the character these homes were built with.
• Lighter and easier to handle, which can mean cleaner installs on tight canyon and hillside lots where staging is awkward.
• More impact-resistant — it takes a knock (a thrown branch, a ladder, hail) without the chip or crack fiber cement can show.
• A well-regarded, long limited warranty (stated generally — we give you LP's current documents rather than quote a figure).

The trade-offs, said plainly

SmartSide is a paint-finished product, so it needs repainting on a cycle — real upkeep, and on Fairfax's slow-drying north faces and canyon walls that cycle can come sooner than on a sunny open lot. Keep the paint and caulk maintained and it lasts a long time; neglect them on a wet wall and you're working against the material. It also isn't noncombustible the way fiber cement is. SmartSide is engineered wood; some SmartSide products carry flame-spread ratings and it can be part of ignition-resistant assemblies, but as a wood-based material it is generally not the default choice for the highest-hazard Fairfax parcels — that's fiber cement's territory.

The fire-zone reality — the one Fairfax caveat

This is where a Fairfax address changes the conversation. Much of the town sits in a Fire Hazard Severity Zone or the wildland-urban interface — the wooded hillsides and canyons like the Cascades — and the Town has adopted the California WUI Code (municipal code § 8.06.011). Where those rules and Chapter 7A apply, exterior cladding generally has to be noncombustible or ignition-resistant, and untreated wood is out. Whether an engineered-wood product like SmartSide can be used, and under what assembly, depends on your parcel's designation, the specific product's rating, and the scope of work — which is exactly why we confirm it with the Town before speccing rather than promising it either way.

The honest framing: on Fairfax parcels clear of the fire-hazard rules, SmartSide is a fantastic way to get the wood look with far less maintenance than solid cedar. On designated high-hazard parcels, the safer and simpler path is usually noncombustible fiber cement or James Hardie, and we'll tell you so.

How it compares

Against solid wood siding, SmartSide keeps most of the look and sheds most of the rot-and-split headache. Against fiber cement, it's lighter, warmer, and tougher on impact, but it's combustible and needs paint upkeep where fiber cement is noncombustible and holds finish longer. Against vinyl, it's a big step up in look and substance at a higher price. On a wooded lot the deciding factor is usually the fire-zone status — get that answered first, and the rest is preference and budget.

The job, and what drives cost

We walk the house, measure, and scope the full assembly. Fairfax requires a construction permit for work that touches the wall, and many single-family exterior projects also go through the Design Review Board — and since SmartSide is chosen for its look, profile and color are worth raising with the Town early. At tear-off we pull the old cladding to the sheathing, inspect for the concealed rot and missing flashing that a damp canyon lot tends to hide, install a water-resistive barrier and flashing, then hang and finish the SmartSide to LP's spec — including the ground clearance and end-cut sealing that keep engineered wood dry. Cost turns on stories and access, how much rot surfaces, the profile and finish, and whether Design Review is in play. See our project gallery and Marin service area.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use LP SmartSide on a fire-zone parcel in Fairfax? It depends on the parcel and the specific product. Some SmartSide products carry flame-spread ratings and can figure in ignition-resistant assemblies, but as an engineered-wood material it isn't the default for the highest-hazard parcels, where noncombustible fiber cement is the safer call. We confirm what your parcel and scope allow with the Town before speccing.

How is SmartSide different from real wood? It's engineered from treated wood strands rather than solid lumber, so it resists moisture, decay, and termites far better than cedar or redwood while keeping a genuine wood grain. It still needs paint, but it won't split and rot the way solid wood does on a shaded wall.

Does it need repainting? Yes — it's a paint-finished product, so plan on a repaint cycle. On Fairfax's shaded, slow-drying walls, keeping the paint and caulk up is what gets you the material's full lifespan.

Is it lighter than fiber cement? Yes, noticeably — which can make for cleaner installs on tight canyon and hillside lots. It's also more impact-resistant, though it trades away fiber cement's noncombustibility.

Get started

Call (415) 619-5167 or request an estimate. We'll confirm your parcel's fire-zone status, and if SmartSide fits, plan a wood-look re-side that's built to last under the canopy.