Fairhaven Siding Two Fiber Cement Products, One Choice We Made
If you've priced out fiber cement siding in Fairhaven, you've probably run into Cemplank. It's a legitimate fiber cement product, not vinyl, not a composite substitute, and it gets grouped with James Hardie because the two compete for the same job. We get asked often enough why we don't carry it, so here's the honest answer rather than a sales pitch.
Both products start from the same basic recipe: cellulose fiber, sand, and Portland cement pressed into planks. That composition is what makes fiber cement noncombustible and resistant to rot, pests, and the kind of moisture damage that eventually catches up with wood and engineered wood siding in a wet climate. On that front, choosing any fiber cement product over cedar, primed spruce, or LP SmartSide is a reasonable call. Our disagreement with Cemplank isn't about the base material. It's about everything that happens after the plank leaves the factory.
Where the Two Products Actually Diverge
Factory Finish and Long-Term Color
James Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on and cured at the factory in multiple coats, with a specific process built to resist UV fading and chipping, and it comes with matching factory-finished trim, corner boards, and touch-up product sourced from the same batch. Cemplank is more commonly sold primed, meaning the finish coat and its long-term performance depend on whoever paints it on site. In Whatcom County, where siding gets months of gray, damp weather and long stretches without a good drying window, a field-applied finish has a much harder job holding up than a factory-cured one.
Climate-Specific Engineering
Hardie sells regionally engineered product lines — HZ5 for our climate zone specifically accounts for the freeze-thaw cycles, driving rain, and moisture exposure common along the Pacific Northwest coast. Cemplank doesn't offer that same tier of regional product differentiation. For a house in Fairhaven catching salt air off Bellingham Bay along with sideways winter rain, that's not a minor spec sheet detail — it's the difference between a product designed for our conditions and one that's more generic.
Warranty Structure
Hardie's warranty on ColorPlus products is a non-prorated, transferable warranty backed by a company with a long track record and a large installed base to stand behind it. Cemplank's warranty coverage and the ease of getting a claim honored years down the road are less established, partly because it's a smaller-volume product with a thinner network of installers and distributors in this region. When we tell a homeowner their siding is warrantied, we want to be confident that warranty means something in year fifteen, not just year one.
Batch Consistency and Repairability
Because Hardie has such wide market penetration, matching trim, replacement planks, and touch-up paint are easy to source years after the original install — useful if a tree branch takes out a section or a remodel needs a patch. Cemplank's smaller footprint means matching an existing job later can be harder, and color-matched repairs are less reliable.
Why Moss and Rain Make This More Than a Cosmetic Issue
Fairhaven's long moss season and near-constant humidity put every siding product through a real test. Moisture that gets past a compromised finish and sits against the substrate is what eventually causes swelling, cracking, and paint failure — the exact problems fiber cement is supposed to solve. A factory-cured, climate-engineered finish system gives us more confidence that the product will still look and perform the way it's supposed to a decade in, through repeated wet-dry cycles and the moss and algae growth that comes with them. A field-primed product asks more of the installer, the weather window during application, and the maintenance schedule afterward — variables we'd rather not build a warranty promise on top of.
Our Standard
We install James Hardie exclusively, not because Cemplank is a bad product, but because Hardie's factory finish process, climate-specific engineering, warranty backing, and material availability give us a more predictable result on the kind of homes we build in Whatcom County. When we put our name behind a job, we want the product underneath it to have a long, verifiable track record in exactly this climate — driving rain, salt air, and all.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Fairhaven or anywhere around Whatcom County, we're happy to walk through what James Hardie's product lines look like for your specific house and budget. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — no obligation, just a straight answer about what we'd recommend and why.