San Carlos LP Smartside Siding

Many San Carlos homes were built to look like wood. That includes the Craftsman bungalows in Howard Park and White Oaks (El Sereno), and many of the post-war houses around Clearfield Park. If you are re-siding one of these homes and want it to keep a warm, grained, painted-wood look, LP SmartSide is often on the shortlist. It gives you the texture of wood without solid lumber's appetite for rot and repainting.

Bay Area Siding Company is a siding and window contractor based in Larkspur. We install LP SmartSide across the Peninsula. We'll give you an honest read on whether it's the right fit for your house, including where it isn't.

Talk it through with a person: call (415) 619-5167, or request a bid and we'll schedule a visit.

What LP SmartSide actually is

LP SmartSide is an engineered wood product. Wood strands are treated through LP's SmartGuard process, bonded with resins, and pressed into boards and panels with a wood-grain texture. It is not plywood like old T1-11, and it is not a cement-based board.

In practice, that gives it a distinct personality:

• It reads as wood. The embossed grain and crisp board edges look at home on a Craftsman or a simple ranch. This is the main reason people pick it.
• It's lighter than fiber cement. That makes handling on a tight hillside lot, and long runs on a two-story wall, more manageable.
• It's impact-resistant. It tends to shrug off the bumps that can chip more brittle cladding, such as a basketball, a ladder, or a garden cart along a narrow side yard.
• It works like lumber. It can be cut and fastened with familiar carpentry methods. This helps when we are fitting it around the irregular openings older homes tend to have.
• It comes in several formats. Options include lap siding, vertical panels (including board-and-batten looks), shakes, trim, and soffit. You can often keep one material family across the whole exterior.

The honest trade-offs

LP SmartSide is a good product, not a maintenance-free one. Before you commit, it helps to know three things.

It needs paint, and the paint has to be kept up. The finish is part of what protects an engineered wood board. You'll repaint on a cycle, and cut edges and fastener penetrations need to be sealed and finished properly at install. LP also offers prefinished options, which can shorten the on-site painting stage. We'll talk through primed versus prefinished based on your color plans.

Installation details matter more than with some materials. LP publishes specific requirements for:

• clearance above grade, roofs, and decks,
• gapping at butt joints and trim, and
• fastening and finishing.

These requirements are also tied to the warranty. We install to those instructions rather than to habit.

It is a wood-based product, so fire is a separate conversation. More on that below. For some San Carlos parcels, it's the deciding factor.

LP SmartSide vs. the alternatives in San Carlos

Most of the homeowners we talk with are weighing LP against one or two other options:

• Versus fiber cement and James Hardie:
  • Fiber cement strengths: it is noncombustible and very dimensionally stable.
  • LP strengths: it is lighter, more forgiving of impacts, and many people prefer its wood texture up close.
• Versus natural wood:
  • Natural wood strengths: nothing beats real cedar or redwood for authenticity on a period restoration.
  • LP strengths: it gets you close visually, with less risk of rot, splitting, and pest damage.
• Versus vinyl:
  • Vinyl strengths: it costs less and never needs paint.
  • LP strengths: it looks and feels far more like a painted wood house, which matters on streets full of original Craftsman detailing.

If you're still at the "which material?" stage, our San Carlos siding replacement page covers the broader decision. The LP SmartSide hub goes deeper on the product itself.

Where LP SmartSide fits San Carlos housing

Craftsman and bungalow streets. In Howard Park, White Oaks, and the blocks near downtown, the architecture depends on horizontal lap lines, substantial trim, and clean corners. LP lap siding paired with LP trim can reproduce that rhythm without the upkeep of old-growth boards. We pay attention to exposure width and trim proportions so the house doesn't look like it lost its character in the re-side.

Replacing tired T1-11 and hardboard. Some mid-century and post-war homes in town still carry original grooved plywood or hardboard siding that has swollen, delaminated, or softened at the bottom edges. LP's vertical panel and board-and-batten products are a natural successor on those homes. So is switching to lap siding if you want a different look.

Stucco-to-wood-look conversions. San Carlos has a lot of 1920s–30s Mediterranean and Spanish Revival stucco. Some owners of simpler stucco homes decide to change the look entirely. That is a larger scope: stucco removal, substrate assessment, and new weather barrier detailing. Where stucco is cut and patched rather than fully removed, the City requires a lath inspection before the scratch coat. We plan for that hold point.

How an LP SmartSide job goes

The old cladding comes off down to the sheathing. That's the step that lets us see the substrate, find soft or rotted areas (often around window openings and at the base of walls), and check whether a functioning water-resistive barrier and flashing are actually there. Framing only becomes part of the job if the sheathing itself has failed and needs to come out.

From there, the sequence is:

1. Repair the substrate as needed.
2. Install the WRB and flashing at openings, penetrations, and transitions.
3. Hang the LP boards and trim with the required clearances, gaps, and fastening.
4. Seal the cut edges.
5. Paint, or install prefinished product.

If you're replacing windows in the same project, doing both together lets the window flashing and the siding tie in cleanly. See San Carlos window replacement.

Permits. The City of San Carlos Building Division, at 600 Elm Street, treats siding replacement as permitted work under the current California Building Code. We pull the permit and schedule the inspections as part of the job.

The fire question on the west side of town

San Carlos does not have a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The 2025 state maps place local terrain in moderate and high categories.

However, the City regards properties west of Alameda de las Pulgas as high risk. It has also adopted fire-code provisions calling for fire-resistive materials in its high fire danger area.

That matters for LP SmartSide specifically, because it's an engineered wood product rather than a noncombustible one. If your home is up the hill, in Crestview, Devonshire, or the Alder Manor slopes, whether LP is acceptable for your walls depends on:

• where your parcel sits, and
• how the work is classified.

We confirm that with the City and the San Carlos and Redwood City Fire Department before specifying anything. We don't assume either way. On parcels where fire-resistive requirements apply, fiber cement is frequently the better route. We'll tell you so early rather than after you've fallen for a color.

What drives the cost

We don't publish prices, because the numbers depend on what's behind your current walls. The main factors are:

• How much sheathing repair the tear-off uncovers
• What's coming off, since stucco removal is a heavier scope than wood or T1-11
• Access and height, including the number of stories, slope, and side-yard clearance
• Product choices, such as lap versus panel or shakes, primed versus prefinished, and trim and soffit scope
• Coordination with window replacement, along with permit and inspection sequencing

A site visit and written scope turn those variables into a real number. You can see examples of completed exteriors in our project gallery.

FAQs

Can LP SmartSide be used on hillside homes west of Alameda de las Pulgas? It depends on the parcel and the scope. The City treats that area as high fire risk and has provisions calling for fire-resistive materials in its high fire danger area. Because LP SmartSide is wood-based, we verify what applies to your address with the City and the fire department before recommending it. Where it doesn't fit, we'll discuss fiber cement instead.

Will LP SmartSide look right on my Craftsman bungalow? Usually, yes, if the detailing is handled with care. Matching the lap exposure, trim widths, and corner treatment to the original house is what makes it look intentional rather than like a generic replacement.

How often will I need to repaint? Periodically, like any painted wood-look exterior. How often depends on the paint system, the color, and sun exposure on each wall. A prefinished option can simplify the initial finish, and keeping the paint in good condition protects the boards over time.

Do I need a permit for LP SmartSide in San Carlos? Yes. The City of San Carlos Building Division treats siding replacement as permitted work. We handle the application and inspections.

Ready to see whether LP SmartSide suits your San Carlos home? Call (415) 619-5167 or request a bid. We serve homeowners throughout the Peninsula.