Bellingham Two Products That Look Alike on a Spec Sheet
If you've gotten more than one siding quote in Bellingham, there's a good chance one of them mentioned Cemplank and another mentioned James Hardie. Both are fiber cement siding. Both are sold as rigid, cement-based lap and panel products. Both get pitched as the "step up" from vinyl. On paper, they can look close to identical — similar dimensions, similar plank profiles, similar marketing language about durability and fire resistance.
We install James Hardie exclusively. We don't carry Cemplank, and we won't quote it even when a homeowner asks for it by name. This page explains why, using the actual differences between the two products rather than vague claims about one being "better." We think homeowners in Bellingham and the rest of Whatcom County deserve to know what those differences are before they sign a contract, not after the siding is up.
What Cemplank Gets Right
We want to be fair here. Cemplank is a real fiber cement product, not a knockoff or a scam. It's cement, sand, and cellulose fiber pressed and cured like other fiber cement siding, and it shares the basic advantages of the category over vinyl or wood: it doesn't burn like wood or synthetic siding, it holds paint and texture better than vinyl, and it resists rot in a way that untreated wood products simply can't.
Cemplank is also typically priced lower than James Hardie, and for a homeowner working with a tight budget, that price gap is a legitimate factor. We're not going to pretend cost doesn't matter. It does. Our position isn't that Cemplank is junk — it's that the differences between the two products matter more in this specific climate than they might in a drier, milder part of the country, and that after installing both over the years, we decided we could only stand behind one of them.
Where Manufacturing and Quality Control Diverge
James Hardie invented the modern fiber cement category and has spent decades refining its manufacturing process, curing methods, and formulation specifically for fiber cement siding — it's effectively the only product line the company makes. Cemplank is manufactured by a different company and sold primarily through building-supply distribution rather than through a dedicated fiber cement installer network.
That distinction matters for a few practical reasons:
- Consistency batch to batch. A manufacturer whose entire business is fiber cement has more incentive — and more accumulated process control — to keep density, moisture content, and dimensional tolerance consistent from run to run.
- Regional engineering. James Hardie makes climate-specific product lines (its "HZ" designations) engineered differently for humid, wet regions versus hot, dry ones. Cemplank does not offer that kind of regional differentiation.
- Installer network and accountability. Hardie certifies contractors through its Preferred Contractor and Elite Preferred programs, with training standards tied to warranty coverage. Cemplank does not have an equivalent certified-installer structure, which means there's less structural accountability if something goes wrong down the line.
Why This Matters More Here Than in Other Markets
A siding product that performs fine in Phoenix or Denver can behave very differently on a house two blocks from Bellingham Bay. Whatcom County exteriors deal with a specific combination of stressors: salt air rolling in off the water, driving rain that hits siding almost horizontally during winter storms, and a moss season that can run eight or nine months out of the year on shaded north- and west-facing walls. Any weakness in a fiber cement product's moisture resistance, edge sealing, or factory finish shows up faster here than it would in a drier climate. That's exactly the kind of environment where the difference between a climate-engineered product and a generic one stops being theoretical.
Factory Finish: The Part Homeowners Underestimate
The paint or finish system on fiber cement siding is arguably more important than the substrate itself, because it's the finish that takes the direct hit from UV, rain, and salt air year after year. James Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on in a controlled factory environment through multiple coats and a curing process designed to bond to the cement substrate — it's a different process than field-applied paint, and it's backed by its own finish warranty separate from the product warranty.
Cemplank siding is generally sold primed, with the finish coat applied on site or shortly after installation, similar to how wood or LP SmartSide is handled. Field-applied paint has to bond to the material after it's already installed, often under whatever weather conditions happen to exist that week — not ideal in a region where a dry, low-humidity painting window can be hard to find for weeks at a stretch. A factory finish applied and cured under controlled conditions is simply a more reliable process than painting siding on a ladder in Bellingham in October.
Warranty Structure, Side by Side
| Factor | James Hardie | Cemplank |
|---|---|---|
| Finish | Factory-applied ColorPlus, own finish warranty | Primed; finish coat typically field-applied |
| Product warranty | Long-term, non-prorated limited warranty | Shorter, more limited coverage |
| Warranty transferability | Transferable to a new owner within the coverage period | Limited or non-transferable, varies by seller |
| Certified installer network | Yes — Preferred/Elite Preferred programs tied to warranty terms | No equivalent program |
| Climate-specific engineering | Regional HZ formulations | Single general-purpose formulation |
A warranty is only as good as what it actually covers and who's still around to honor it. Hardie's scale and singular focus on fiber cement give it a warranty structure with more teeth — and a manufacturer with a real financial interest in making sure certified installers put the product on correctly, because bad installations become warranty claims.
Installation Sensitivity — Where Cheap Materials Get Expensive
Fiber cement siding, generally, is unforgiving of bad installation practice: wrong nail placement, insufficient clearance from grade or roof lines, unsealed cut edges, or improper flashing will eventually cause problems regardless of which brand is on the wall. That's true of both products. But the gap widens when a less experienced crew is handling a product that doesn't have factory-cured edges or a certified-installer program pushing best practices. Every cut edge on fiber cement siding needs to be sealed before installation — this is standard practice for both products — but a contractor who only installs Hardie and only follows Hardie's published installation specs day in and day out is going to have that habit locked in more reliably than a crew that moves between several fiber cement brands with looser guidance.
We standardized on one product in part so our crews build one set of habits, to one spec, every time — not a different set of rules depending on which siding showed up on the truck that morning.
What This Means for Your Cost Comparison
We won't tell you Cemplank is a bad value on paper — the upfront price gap is real. But a fair cost comparison has to include more than the material price per square foot:
- Expected repainting cycle if the finish isn't factory-cured
- Warranty coverage if a seam opens or a panel fails in year twelve
- Resale value and transferability of the warranty to the next owner
- How the product handles a wet Bellingham winter versus a dry-climate installation
- Whether your installer's crew has done hundreds of installs of that exact product, or a mix of several
When you run those factors out over the 20-30 year window most homeowners actually keep their siding, the initial price gap narrows — and for a lot of our clients, it reverses.
Questions Worth Asking Any Siding Contractor
- What fiber cement brand do you install, and is your crew certified by that manufacturer?
- Is the finish factory-applied or field-painted, and what's the finish warranty specifically?
- Is the product warranty transferable if I sell the house?
- What's your process for sealing cut edges and maintaining clearance at grade and roofline?
- Do you install one fiber cement brand or several, and why?
Why We Only Install James Hardie
After years of exterior work in a climate that punishes shortcuts — salt air, sideways rain, moss that doesn't quit — we made a call to standardize on the fiber cement product with the strongest factory finish, the most consistent manufacturing, the climate-specific engineering, and the warranty structure that actually holds up. That's James Hardie. We'd rather turn down a job than install something on your home that we can't fully stand behind ten or twenty years from now.
If you're comparing quotes and one of them includes Cemplank, LP SmartSide, or another alternative, we're happy to walk through your specific house and explain what we'd do differently and why. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — we'll give you a straight answer, not a sales pitch.