Land O'Lakes Siding What LP SmartSide Actually Is
LP SmartSide is an engineered wood siding product — strand-based substrate made from wood fibers, resin, and zinc borate, pressed together and coated with a proprietary SmartGuard treatment, then finished with primer. It's a legitimate step up from old-style hardboard siding, and LP has put real engineering into resisting fungal decay and termite damage compared to the hardboard products that gave engineered wood a bad name decades ago. It's lighter than fiber cement, easier to cut and nail without specialized blades, and generally costs less installed. For a contractor working on volume, those are real advantages.
So this isn't a page bashing LP as a bad product. It's an explanation of why, after weighing the real-world behavior of engineered wood siding against what Pasco County homes go through every year, Land O'Lakes Siding Company made the decision to install only James Hardie fiber cement — and not LP SmartSide.
The Core Issue: It's Still Wood
SmartGuard treatment slows moisture absorption and decay significantly compared to untreated wood. It does not eliminate the fact that the substrate is wood fiber. Wood expands and contracts with moisture. Fiber cement doesn't. That single difference drives almost every trade-off on this page.
In Land O'Lakes, siding doesn't get a break from moisture exposure. We're dealing with wind-driven rain during summer storms, high year-round humidity, and the kind of intense subtropical UV that pushes any painted or coated surface hard. LP's own installation instructions are specific about this: caulked joints, painted cut edges, and maintained field-applied finish are not optional extras — they're part of what keeps the product performing as designed. Skip a step, or let maintenance slide for a couple years, and moisture finds the exposed wood fiber at a cut end, a nail head, or a failed caulk line. Once that happens, swelling and edge deterioration follow, and it's usually visible at the bottom courses and around penetrations before anywhere else.
What This Means for Warranty Coverage
LP's warranty is real, but it comes with maintenance obligations attached — documented painting schedules, caulk maintenance, proper flashing and clearances. That's not unusual for a wood-based product, but it puts the ongoing performance of the siding partly in the homeowner's hands, year after year, for as long as they own the house. Miss the maintenance cadence and coverage can be reduced or denied on a moisture-related claim. For a lot of homeowners, that's a fine trade for a lower upfront cost. For a contractor putting our name on the install, it means the products we choose have to hold up even when a maintenance schedule slips a year — because in Pasco County, humidity and storm exposure don't wait for anyone's paint schedule.
Where James Hardie Fiber Cement Wins the Trade-Off
James Hardie siding is cement, sand, and cellulose fiber — non-combustible, and dimensionally stable in a way wood-based products can't match. It doesn't swell at cut edges the way engineered wood can if a coating gets compromised. Hardie's HZ5 product line is engineered specifically for climates like ours: high humidity, heavy rain, and salt air exposure along the Gulf side of the state.
The other piece is the factory finish. Hardie's ColorPlus technology bakes the color onto the board at the factory under controlled conditions, rather than relying on field-applied paint over cut engineered wood. That finish is backed by its own dedicated warranty against fading and peeling, separate from the substrate warranty. It's a meaningfully different maintenance picture than a product where the long-term performance depends on how consistently a homeowner keeps up with painting and caulking.
Side-by-Side Honesty
| Factor | LP SmartSide | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|---|
| Substrate | Engineered wood strand, resin-treated | Fiber cement (cement, sand, cellulose) |
| Moisture behavior | Resists decay when maintained; vulnerable at exposed cut edges/joints | Dimensionally stable, doesn't swell from moisture |
| Finish | Field or shop-primed, requires ongoing painting | Factory ColorPlus finish, separately warrantied |
| Fire rating | Combustible (treated wood product) | Non-combustible |
| Upfront cost | Generally lower | Higher, reflected in longevity and warranty structure |
Our Standard, Not a Verdict on the Product
Plenty of contractors install LP SmartSide well, and plenty of homeowners maintain it properly and get good years out of it. It has a place in the market. But Land O'Lakes Siding Company made a business decision to install one material — James Hardie — so every job we do is built around a product we know performs consistently in Pasco County's climate without asking the homeowner to run a strict maintenance calendar to keep the warranty intact. Hurricane season, salt air drifting in off the Gulf, and year-round UV don't leave much room for a siding product that depends on perfect upkeep to avoid moisture problems at the seams.
If you're comparing siding options for a home in Land O'Lakes or elsewhere in Pasco County, we're glad to walk through what we install, why, and what it actually costs — no pressure, no sales script. Reach out for a free estimate and we'll give you a straight answer about what your home needs.