Cedar looks. Michigan-proof bones.
Engineered wood with real depth and grain, installed to LP’s spec by the crew LP certifies to hang it.
LP SmartSide is what wood siding grows up into: real wood strands bonded with resins and waxes, then run through LP’s SmartGuard treatment against moisture, fungal decay, and insects. You get the deep grain and shadow lines of cedar, board strength that takes a hailstone or a foul ball without cracking, and long sixteen-foot lengths that mean fewer seams on your wall. It’s the siding we point mid-Michigan homeowners to most often, because it fits how this climate actually behaves.
Installation is where SmartSide’s warranty either stays whole or quietly dies. LP writes a specific spec: gapping at every joint and trim line so boards can move, a fastener schedule that holds without crushing, sealed field cuts, and flashing at every place water concentrates. Our crew is LP certified, which means we’ve been trained and checked on exactly those details, and your five-year full plus fifty-year prorated warranty sits on an install that meets it.
We install LP SmartSide across Lansing, East Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Grand Ledge, Owosso, and our whole nine-county area. Licensed, insured, never subcontracted, and honest in the material conversation: if vinyl or fiber cement fits your house and budget better, we install those too and we’ll say so.
What our LP SmartSide installation covers.
- Lap, panel and trimThe full SmartSide system, matched and finished as one
- Prefinished or primedDiamond Kote color or field paint, priced side by side
- Moisture barrierA real weather-resistive layer behind every wall
- Spec fastening and gappingRoom to move, held tight, nothing crushed
- Sealed cuts and jointsEvery field cut treated so edges never wick
- Flashing throughoutWindows, doors, and penetrations detailed watertight
What LP certification means on your wall.
Anyone can buy SmartSide at a supply yard. The difference between a wall that lasts fifty years and one that swells at the seams in ten is whether the crew follows the installation manual, and certification is LP’s way of marking crews that provably do.
The spec is all small, boring, decisive details. Joints gapped so boards can move with the seasons instead of buckling. Fasteners long enough to bite the stud, driven snug but not crushed through the face. Every saw cut sealed before the board goes up, because raw edges are the one place engineered wood can drink water. Kick-out and head flashing wherever the wall meets roof and openings.
The warranty is printed on paper, but it lives or dies in the fastening and the cut edges.
We build in that order every time: wall prep, barrier, flashing, then boards. The crew that quotes your project is the crew on the ladder, so the details that were promised are the details that get nailed.
When we hand the house back, you get the warranty paperwork done right, the leftover touch-up materials, and a wall we’re happy to put our name near. Most of our SmartSide jobs come from someone standing in front of one we finished.
Done the honest way.
Certified, audited crew
LP trains and checks the crews it certifies. Yours is one of them, and the warranty math assumes exactly that.
Sixteen-foot logic
Longer boards, fewer butt joints, cleaner walls. We lay out each elevation to put the seams where eyes don’t go.
Sealed edges everywhere
Field cuts are where engineered wood can fail. Ours get sealed before the board touches the wall, every single one.
Is LP SmartSide the right call for your house?
If you want the look of real wood without wood’s maintenance appetite, this is the lane. SmartSide gives you deeper texture and truer shadow lines than vinyl, takes impact dramatically better than fiber cement or vinyl, and comes in long lengths that make walls look calm. Michigan hail seasons are exactly what its impact resistance is for.
Against fiber cement, it’s lighter, faster to hang, friendlier to complex trim details, and it doesn’t chip at cut edges. Fiber cement answers back with its fire rating and its indifference to just about everything. Both are excellent walls. Which one wins depends on your house, your street, and what you care about, and we install both, so you’ll get the honest comparison instead of a pitch.
The prefinished question matters here too. Primed SmartSide gets field-painted after install and repainted on a normal wood-look cycle. Prefinished Diamond Kote arrives with a baked-on color under a thirty-year no-fade warranty and never meets a paint crew. We’ll price both paths on your actual square footage.
The free siding look settles it: samples held against your brick and roof, straight talk about your walls, and a firm written price for each direction you’re considering.
From recent jobs.
Real Anchor work across mid-Michigan, the standard your LP SmartSide project gets. More in the gallery.
SmartSide installation across mid-Michigan.
We hang LP SmartSide everywhere from Lansing infill streets to open-field farmhouses past St. Johns, and the material earns its keep differently by neighborhood. In town, it’s the wood-true looks: deep lap shadow lines that make a hundred-year-old street read right. Out where wind and hail get a running start, it’s the impact resistance that closes the deal.
Our climate is the sales pitch we don’t have to write. SmartGuard treatment answers wet springs, engineered strength answers hail seasons, and factory-length boards answer the long unbroken walls on pole barns, garages, and additions we side alongside plenty of houses.
Wherever you are in the nine counties, the free siding look works the same: samples held against your brick and roof in real daylight, both prefinished and primed paths priced, and a firm written start date from the certified crew that will actually do the work.
Straight answers about SmartSide installation.
We’d rather you know what you’re paying for. These are the answers we give every customer, and our gallery shows the results.
What actually is LP SmartSide?
Engineered wood: real wood strands bonded with resins and waxes, then treated through LP’s SmartGuard process against moisture, fungal decay, and insects. It looks and works like cedar on the wall, but with far better impact resistance and consistency board to board.
How long does an LP SmartSide installation take?
Most single-family installs run about a week, tear-off through cleanup, depending on the size of the house and what we find under the old siding. You get a real schedule with your written price, and because we never subcontract, the schedule is ours to keep.
What warranty comes with it?
LP backs SmartSide with a five-year full labor and materials warranty and a fifty-year prorated warranty on the substrate. Prefinished Diamond Kote color adds a thirty-year no-fade finish warranty. Our install to LP’s spec is what keeps all of it enforceable.
Does SmartSide hold up to hail?
It’s one of the material’s headline strengths. Engineered wood takes impacts that crack vinyl and chip fiber cement, which is a real consideration in mid-Michigan’s storm seasons. No wall is indestructible, but SmartSide is the one we’d bet on in a hailstorm.
Should I get primed or prefinished SmartSide?
Primed costs less up front and lets you pick any paint color, then repaint on a normal cycle. Prefinished Diamond Kote costs more up front and then does nothing for thirty years, no painting, no fading. Long-stayers usually come out ahead prefinished, and we’ll show you both numbers.
Is SmartSide better than fiber cement?
Different, not better. SmartSide wins on impact resistance, weight, and wood-true looks. Fiber cement wins on fire rating and sheer indifference to weather. We’re certified on both, we install both, and we’ll tell you which one we’d put on your specific house.
Can you install it over my existing siding?
We tear off instead. LP’s spec wants a flat, sound, properly wrapped wall, and covering old siding buries whatever problems it was hiding. Tear-off lets us fix the sheathing and build the moisture barrier right, which is most of what the warranty is standing on.
Do you install SmartSide on garages, additions, and pole barns too?
Yes. Engineered wood’s long lengths and durability make it a favorite on outbuildings and additions, and matching the house is straightforward when one crew does both. We’ll quote whatever combination of structures you’re re-siding in one written price.
Other things we do.
Serving Lansing, East Lansing, St. Johns and the surrounding counties. See our service area → · Questions? Contact us or call (989) 900-0018.
Let’s put a certified crew on your SmartSide project.
Call for a free siding look. Samples against your house, straight material talk, and a firm written price.
(989) 900-0018