Ferndale Two Fiber Cement Products, One Big Difference in Practice
Cemplank and James Hardie siding often get lumped together because they're both fiber cement — a mix of cement, sand, and cellulose fiber that's more durable than wood and won't burn, warp, or feed insects the way some other sidings can. On paper, that puts them in the same category. In the field, after installing thousands of linear feet of fiber cement around Ferndale and the rest of Whatcom County, we've found the two products don't perform the same, aren't backed the same, and don't hold up to our specific climate the same way.
This page isn't about trashing a competitor's product. Cemplank is a legitimate fiber cement siding made by a real manufacturer, and it has a place in the market. We just don't install it, and we think homeowners comparing bids deserve to know exactly why — not a vague "we prefer Hardie" but the actual engineering and business reasons behind that call.
What Cemplank Gets Right
Cemplank (manufactured by Allura) is a genuine fiber cement product, not a vinyl or composite imitation. That means it shares the core advantages of the category: it's non-combustible, it resists rot and pest damage far better than wood or engineered wood siding, and it holds paint or factory finish longer than most alternatives. For a homeowner comparing it against vinyl or primed wood, Cemplank is a real step up.
Where the gap opens is in the details underneath that headline — the specific manufacturing process, the factory finish system, the moisture engineering for wet climates, and the warranty structure. Those details are exactly the things a siding contractor has to live with for the life of the installation, and they're the reason we standardized on one product line instead of quoting whichever fiber cement happens to be cheapest that month.
Where the Category Similarities End
Fiber cement as a category is not one uniform product. Cement content, fiber ratio, curing process, and the finish system applied at the factory all vary by manufacturer — and those variables are what determine how a board behaves after fifteen years of Pacific Northwest weather, not the fact that it's technically "fiber cement" on the spec sheet.
Manufacturing and Finish: The Part Homeowners Don't See
Factory Finish vs. Field-Applied Coatings
James Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on at the factory in multiple coats, cured, and backed by a dedicated finish warranty separate from the substrate warranty. It's engineered specifically to resist fading and chipping on fiber cement, and it holds a consistent color across a whole job because it's controlled in a factory environment, not mixed and sprayed on a jobsite.
Cemplank is also available prefinished, but the finish system and quality control process differ from Hardie's, and in our experience the color consistency and long-term fade resistance haven't matched what we see from ColorPlus panels years later. When a finish starts to chip or fade unevenly, the homeowner is the one who has to live with mismatched siding or pay for a repaint — an expense that shouldn't exist on a product marketed as low-maintenance.
Moisture Engineering for a Marine Climate
Ferndale sits close enough to Bellingham Bay and the Salish Sea that salt-laden air is a real factor on siding, gutters, and fasteners — not a theoretical one. Add Whatcom County's driving rain and a moss season that can stretch from fall through spring, and any siding product here is under near-constant moisture load for months at a time.
James Hardie engineers its HZ product lines by climate zone specifically for this kind of exposure, with attention to how the board handles water at the butt joints, behind trim, and at the bottom edge where moss and standing moisture tend to collect. That's not marketing language — it shows up in how the product is specified, primed, and installed. We haven't seen the same zone-specific engineering documentation or field performance from Cemplank in wet coastal conditions, and moisture behavior is not something we're willing to guess about on a home we're putting our name behind.
How the Two Compare on the Factors That Matter Here
| Factor | James Hardie | Cemplank |
|---|---|---|
| Factory finish system | ColorPlus, multi-coat, dedicated finish warranty | Prefinished options available, different QC process |
| Climate-specific engineering | HZ5 zone product line for PNW moisture exposure | Not zone-differentiated in the same documented way |
| Warranty structure | Long-term, transferable, widely recognized by installers | Manufacturer warranty exists, less standardized in the trade |
| Local installer familiarity | Widely installed in Whatcom County; crews trained to spec | Less commonly specified locally |
| Non-combustibility | Yes | Yes |
| Resistance to rot/pests | Yes | Yes |
Notice that the base material properties — non-combustible, rot-resistant, pest-resistant — are genuinely comparable. The differences that matter most in Ferndale's climate live in the finish system, the moisture engineering, and the warranty backing, not in the raw material chemistry.
Warranty Structure: What "Transferable" Actually Means
Every fiber cement manufacturer publishes a warranty, but the fine print matters more than the headline years. A few questions worth asking of any warranty, whichever brand is on the table:
- Does it cover the substrate, the finish, or both — and for how long each?
- Is it transferable to a future homeowner if you sell the house, and does that transfer require anything from you or the installer?
- Does improper installation void it, and who determines what counts as improper?
- Is the manufacturer still going to be in business and honoring claims in twenty years?
James Hardie's warranty is long-term, transferable, and well-established in the trade — installers, inspectors, and real estate agents around Whatcom County recognize it and know what it covers. That recognition has real value if you ever sell the home. We haven't found the same level of familiarity or track record with Cemplank's warranty locally, which puts more of the burden on the homeowner to interpret and enforce it if something goes wrong down the road.
Installation Sensitivity: The Product Isn't the Whole Story
Fiber cement siding of any brand is unforgiving of poor installation. Wrong fastener pattern, missed clearances at grade, caulked joints where they should be left to drain, or panels hung without proper flashing will cause problems regardless of which manufacturer's name is on the box. That's part of why we don't chase whichever product is cheapest per square — we've built our crew's training, our flashing details, and our warranty conversations with customers around one product line so there's no ambiguity about spec.
Running two different fiber cement systems means keeping two sets of installation specs, two sets of touch-up paint and trim details, and two warranty registration processes straight — and it means our crew is never doing the same detail enough times in a row to get it perfect. Standardizing on Hardie lets us install to spec every time, not most of the time.
Cost Factors Worth Understanding
Material cost alone rarely tells the full story on a siding job. The bigger cost drivers are usually the same regardless of brand:
| Cost Factor | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Tear-off and disposal of existing siding | Often the largest line item, independent of new siding brand |
| House wrap and flashing details | Determines how well any siding sheds Whatcom County's rain |
| Trim and corner details | Labor-intensive work that affects both looks and moisture performance |
| Finish system (factory vs. field-primed) | Factory finish reduces future repainting costs over the siding's life |
| Warranty registration and documentation | Protects the investment if a claim is ever needed |
When a bid using Cemplank comes in noticeably cheaper than a Hardie bid, ask specifically what's different — is it the finish system, the flashing detail, the crew's experience with that product, or genuinely thinner margins. A fair comparison should isolate those variables instead of just comparing a bottom-line number.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie
We made a business decision to install one fiber cement system, and we picked James Hardie because of the combination above: HZ product lines engineered for zones like ours, a factory finish system with its own warranty, a long-term transferable warranty homeowners and future buyers recognize, and enough local installation volume that our crew executes the details correctly every time — the flashing, the fastener schedule, the clearances, the joint treatment. In a climate with salt air off the bay, driving rain most of the year, and a moss season that punishes any weak point in a building envelope, those details are what separate siding that looks good for twenty-five years from siding that needs attention in year eight.
That's also why we don't quote Cemplank, LP SmartSide, vinyl, Allura, or primed wood alongside Hardie as interchangeable options. We'd rather tell a homeowner honestly that we only install one system than stretch our crew thin trying to be experts in five.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign With Any Siding Contractor
- Which specific fiber cement product and product line are they quoting — not just "fiber cement"?
- Is the finish factory-applied or field-primed, and what does that finish warranty actually cover?
- How many jobs has this crew installed with this exact product in the last year?
- What's their flashing and clearance detail at grade, around windows, and at butt joints?
- Is the warranty transferable, and what would void it?
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Ferndale or anywhere else in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk through what we see on the ground with different products and explain exactly why James Hardie is what we put on homes. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — there's no obligation, just an honest look at your siding and what it'll take to get it right.