Ferndale One Product, On Purpose
Most siding contractors will sell you whatever's on the truck — vinyl, LP SmartSide, fiber cement, sometimes cedar if you ask nicely. We don't work that way. Ferndale Siding installs James Hardie fiber cement siding exclusively. Not because we have some marketing deal with Hardie, but because after years of tear-offs, warranty calls, and repeat visits to homes around Ferndale and the rest of Whatcom County, one product kept holding up the way we promised it would, and the others didn't — at least not consistently enough for us to keep standing behind them.
This page explains the reasoning, plainly, so you can judge it for yourself.
What Ferndale's Weather Actually Does to Siding
Ferndale sits close enough to Bellingham Bay and the Strait of Georgia that salt-laden air is a real factor on exterior materials, not a theoretical one. Add in the region's long stretch of driving rain from fall through spring, plus a moss and algae season that can run eight or nine months out of the year on shaded north and west walls, and you've got a climate that's genuinely hard on siding. Materials that perform fine in drier parts of the country get tested here in ways they weren't necessarily built for.
Wood-based products — including engineered wood siding and primed cedar — depend on an intact paint or coating layer to keep moisture out. Once that layer is compromised by a seam, a fastener hole, or years of UV and rain exposure, water gets into the substrate, and that's where the long-term problems start. Vinyl doesn't rot, but it moves with temperature swings, fades unevenly over time, and offers little protection against wind-driven rain at the seams. Fiber cement, done right, sidesteps most of these failure points because it isn't wood and isn't a thin plastic shell — it's cement, sand, and cellulose fiber, pressed and cured into a dense, dimensionally stable board.
Why James Hardie Specifically
Fiber cement is a category, not a brand, and not every fiber cement product is engineered the same way. A few things set James Hardie apart in our experience:
- Climate-specific engineering. Hardie makes HZ5 formulations designed for regions with significant moisture exposure, which describes most of western Washington. The board composition is built around resisting moisture-related damage in wet climates rather than being a one-size-fits-all national product.
- Factory-applied ColorPlus finish. Instead of relying on field-applied paint that starts degrading the day it's sprayed, ColorPlus is baked on at the factory in multiple coats under controlled conditions. It resists fading and chipping far better than site-applied paint, and it means the color match and finish quality are consistent across an entire job.
- Non-combustible material. Fiber cement doesn't contribute fuel to a fire the way wood-based sidings can. That matters more each year as wildfire season expands its reach in the Pacific Northwest, and it's reflected in how insurers are starting to look at exterior materials.
- A warranty structure we can actually stand behind. Hardie's transferable warranty on both the substrate and the ColorPlus finish gives homeowners real protection, and gives us a manufacturer relationship we trust when a claim needs to be made.
The Product Lines We Work With
Hardie isn't a single board — it's a system, and matching the right product to the wall assignment matters:
- HardiePlank lap siding — the workhorse for most Ferndale homes, available in several exposure widths and textures (smooth, cedarmill).
- HardiePanel vertical siding — often used for accent walls, gables, or a more modern look.
- HardieShingle — for homes going for a shingle-style look without the maintenance burden of real cedar shingles.
- HardieTrim — matched trim boards so the whole envelope, not just the field siding, is fiber cement.
Installation Is Half the Equation
Even the best siding product fails early if it's installed wrong — wrong nailing pattern, missing clearances, caulk where there should be flashing. Hardie publishes detailed installation specifications for a reason, and a huge share of the siding problems we get called out to inspect trace back to installation shortcuts, not the material itself. Because we only install one product, our crews aren't switching between five different manufacturers' specs from job to job. We install Hardie the same correct way, every time, which is a big part of why we're comfortable standing behind the result.
What This Means for You
Standardizing on one product means we turn down some jobs — homeowners who've already decided on vinyl or a specific wood look aren't going to get that from us. But it also means every home we side gets a material we've thoroughly vetted against the specific conditions Ferndale and Whatcom County throw at it, installed by crews who know that system inside and out, backed by a warranty we trust.
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Ferndale or nearby, we're happy to walk through what Hardie would look like on your specific house — colors, textures, and cost — with no pressure to move forward. Reach out for a free estimate and we'll give you a straight answer.