Stanford LP Smartside Siding

Many homeowners around the Stanford campus want their house to keep looking like wood, especially the vertical, grooved look that defines an Eichler or a postwar faculty ranch. They also don't want the rot, splitting, and repainting cycle that often comes with original wood or aging T1-11. LP SmartSide sits in that gap. It is an engineered wood siding with real-wood texture, and it is built to resist moisture and pests better than the plywood and boards it often replaces. Bay Area Siding Company is a Larkspur-based siding and window contractor. We install LP SmartSide, and we plan each Stanford job around the building permit and the Stanford Faculty and Staff Housing review that most homes here need.

Considering LP SmartSide? Request a bid or call (415) 619-5167. We'll look at your walls and talk through whether engineered wood is the right fit.

What LP SmartSide actually is

LP SmartSide is made from wood strands that are treated through LP's SmartGuard process. That process combines the strands with resins, waxes, and zinc borate, then bonds them under heat and pressure into boards and panels. The result behaves like wood where it matters to the look and like an engineered product where it matters to durability:

• Wood character. The embossed cedar-grain texture reads as wood from the street. Smooth profiles are also available for a cleaner modern face.
• Treated against moisture, fungal decay, and termites. The SmartGuard treatment runs through the product and is not just a surface coating.
• Lighter and more impact-resistant than fiber cement. That makes boards easier to handle and less prone to cracking when struck.
• Long lengths. LP's lap siding comes in longer boards than many fiber-cement products. Fewer butt joints means fewer seams on a long, low elevation.
• Workable with standard carpentry tools. Cutting and fitting around beams, clerestories, and odd angles is straightforward.

The line includes lap siding, vertical panel siding, shakes, and matching trim and fascia. Boards come primed, or prefinished in LP's ExpertFinish colors.

Why it suits Stanford's mid-century houses

The housing around campus leans heavily postwar. There's a well-known cluster of Eichlers on leased land, with post-and-beam framing, walls of glass, and low or flat rooflines. Alongside them are ranches and other faculty homes of the same era. Vertical siding is a big part of how many of these houses look. When an original grooved panel or T1-11 wall has swollen, delaminated, or gone soft near grade, homeowners generally want the replacement to keep that vertical rhythm rather than turn the house into a horizontal-lap tract home.

LP SmartSide panel siding can do that. Grooved vertical panels can echo the original pattern, and panels paired with batten strips give a board-and-batten look. On a house built around thin lines and big glass, we pay attention to how the panels meet the deep eaves, the beam ends, and the tall window openings. Those junctions decide whether the finished wall looks faithful or clumsy.

If your home still wears original T1-11, LP SmartSide is one of the most natural upgrades. You keep a familiar panelized look while moving to a treated, engineered product.

The honest trade-offs

Engineered wood is a good product for the right house, but it isn't the answer for every wall.

• It needs paint over time. LP SmartSide holds a finish well, but like any painted wood product it will eventually need repainting. Primed boards must be finish-painted within the time window LP specifies after installation. If you want the lowest-maintenance option, vinyl asks less of you.
• It is a wood-based, combustible material. Stanford is not in a designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, so this isn't the deciding factor here that it can be in the East Bay or Marin hills. Even so, if a noncombustible wall matters to you, fiber cement or James Hardie is the direction to look.
• Installation details matter. LP publishes specific requirements for clearances from grade and roof surfaces, sealing of cut edges, fastening, and gapping. Warranty coverage depends on the product being installed to those instructions, so we follow them closely.
• Solid wood still has a place. If you want true cedar or redwood and accept the upkeep, see our wood siding page.

LP SmartSide vs. the alternatives, in brief

| If you want… | Consider | |---|---| | Real-wood look, lighter weight, vertical panel options | LP SmartSide | | Noncombustible, very durable, crisp profiles | Fiber cement / James Hardie | | Lowest maintenance and lowest cost | Vinyl or CertainTeed | | Authentic natural wood | Wood siding |

For the broader re-side decision, see Stanford siding replacement or our LP SmartSide hub.

Getting approved: county permit plus FSH review

A Stanford re-side usually has two approvals to clear, and LP SmartSide doesn't change that.

• Building permit. A full re-side is a permitted alteration. For unincorporated parcels, the permit comes from the Santa Clara County Department of Planning and Development's Building Division. A few faculty-housing pockets fall within Palo Alto or Menlo Park city limits, where the city issues the permit instead. We confirm which authority applies to your parcel.
• Stanford Faculty and Staff Housing (FSH). For homes on a Stanford ground lease, FSH reviews and approves home-improvement projects before work starts. That review involves an application, drawings, photos, product spec sheets, and a fee. Homes fifty years and older get additional time for historic review, which covers a lot of the mid-century stock here. Each lease area has its own building regulations to check against.

Because FSH looks at exterior appearance, we assemble LP's product data along with the profile, texture, and color choices so the application is clear. We don't predict how any particular review will turn out.

How the installation goes

We remove the old cladding down to the sheathing and substrate. That lets us inspect the water-resistive barrier and the flashing at windows, doors, and transitions. On glass-heavy post-and-beam homes, that flashing is where the most attention is needed. Damaged sheathing is repaired or replaced as needed. The framing is exposed only if the sheathing itself has failed. We then install a new WRB and flashing and fasten the LP SmartSide and trim to LP's instructions. If the boards are primed rather than prefinished, painting follows. The permit inspection and a walkthrough with you close out the job.

What drives the cost

We don't quote prices online. The main factors are:

• Wall area and complexity (beams, clerestories, and many openings add labor)
• Panel versus lap profile, and primed versus prefinished
• How much sheathing repair the tear-off reveals
• Trim scope
• Access
• Front-end time for the permit and FSH application

Browse finished work on our projects page, or see the other communities we serve across the Peninsula.

FAQs

Can LP SmartSide recreate the vertical siding look on my Stanford Eichler? Often, yes. LP's grooved vertical panels and panel-and-batten combinations can echo the original vertical pattern. We match groove spacing and detailing as closely as the product allows. The final exterior still has to clear FSH review.

Does LP SmartSide need Stanford FSH approval? For a home on a Stanford lease, a re-side is the kind of home-improvement project FSH reviews before work begins, regardless of material. You'll also need the building permit from Santa Clara County, or from Palo Alto or Menlo Park if your parcel is within those city limits.

Is engineered wood a problem for fire rules here? Stanford is not a designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, so the noncombustible-material requirements seen in some hillside areas generally aren't the driver here. Code applicability is parcel- and scope-specific, though, and we confirm it with the permitting authority. If fire resistance is a personal priority, fiber cement is the noncombustible option.

How often will I need to repaint? It depends on the finish, the color, and sun exposure. Prefinished ExpertFinish boards and a quality paint job both extend the interval. Plan on periodic repainting, as you would with any painted wood-look siding.

Ready to talk it through? Request a bid or call (415) 619-5167.