Wood Siding Installation by hand.
Nothing looks like real wood on a house. We install it so it stays beautiful in a climate that fights it.
Wood siding is the look every other siding is imitating. Real grain, real depth, a warmth that vinyl printing and embossing still can’t fake up close. On the right house, cedar lap or a clean board look changes the whole character of the street. The catch is that Michigan is hard on wood, and wood siding only earns its keep when the installation respects that.
Installing wood siding here means managing water at every single edge: back-priming boards, flashing every window and door, keeping proper clearances off the roof and grade so boards never wick moisture, and fastening so the wood can move through humid summers and frozen winters. That’s hand work. It’s slower than hanging vinyl, and it’s exactly the kind of work our crew likes.
We install wood siding, and engineered wood for homeowners who want the look with less upkeep, across Lansing, East Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, Grand Ledge, Owosso, and the surrounding mid-Michigan counties. Licensed, insured, never subcontracted, and honest about whether wood is the right call for your house and your appetite for maintenance.
What our wood siding installation covers.
- Cedar and wood lap sidingClassic profiles, installed board by board
- Engineered wood optionLP SmartSide for the look with less upkeep
- Back-priming and sealingBoards protected on the side you never see
- Moisture barrierA real weather-resistive layer behind every wall
- Flashing and clearancesWater managed at every edge and opening
- Trim, fascia and soffitThe finish carpentry that completes the look
Wood siding installation the way it should be done.
It starts with a free, no-obligation look and an honest conversation. Wood siding is a commitment: it wants stain or paint on a cycle, and it rewards owners who keep up with it. We’d rather talk you through that up front than sell you a wall you’ll resent in six years. For some homeowners, engineered wood is the smarter version of the same look. We install both, so the advice is straight.
If real wood is the call, the job is built around moisture from the first board. We back-prime, we flash every opening, we hold clearances at roofs, decks, and grade, and we fasten to let the wood move. Every one of those details is invisible when the job is done and decisive ten years later.
Wood siding is carpentry, not assembly. The house deserves someone who knows the difference.
Our own crew does the work, and with wood that matters more than usual. Scribing around a chimney, keeping lap lines dead level across forty feet, making trim meet at clean miters: that’s carpentry, not assembly.
When we’re done, the yard is clean, the cutoffs are gone, and you get a finished wall you’ll want to stand across the street and look at. Then we’ll tell you exactly how to keep it that way, and when to call us for the first re-coat.
Done the honest way.
Water managed everywhere
Back-priming, flashing, and clearances at every edge. Wood siding survives Michigan when water has nowhere to sit.
Real carpentry
Level lines, tight scribes, clean miters. Wood shows every shortcut, so we don’t take any.
Honest about upkeep
Wood wants maintenance on a cycle. We’ll tell you the real schedule before you commit, not after.
Real wood or engineered wood?
Real wood siding, cedar most commonly, gives you the genuine article: true grain, true depth, and the ability to re-stain or repaint into any color for as long as the boards last. Its price is vigilance. Every few years it wants a re-coat, and neglected wood in our freeze-thaw climate goes downhill fast, cupping, checking, and inviting woodpeckers and rot.
Engineered wood, LP SmartSide being the brand we’re certified on, is wood fiber bonded with resins and treated against moisture, fungus, and insects. It installs with the same deep lap shadow lines, takes paint beautifully, resists hail and pucks and baseballs far better than cedar, and carries a 5/50-year warranty. It’s what we recommend to most families who love the wood look but not the ladder time.
There are honest cases for each. A historic home, a cabin, a house under trees where character matters most: real wood. A busy family home where the look matters but weekends are for other things: engineered wood, and you’ll struggle to tell the difference from the sidewalk.
The free look is where we sort that out. We’ll price both paths on your actual house, show you samples of each, and tell you plainly what we’d do if it were our place.
From recent jobs.
Real Anchor work across mid-Michigan, the standard your wood siding project gets. More in the gallery.
Wood siding across mid-Michigan.
Mid-Michigan is good country for wood siding, with a caveat. The area’s older housing stock, Lansing’s Eastside four-squares, the century homes around St. Johns and Owosso, lake places out toward Ionia, wears wood the way it was meant to look. The caveat is exposure: our humid summers and freeze-thaw winters mean wood needs its coating cycle respected, and a wall under big maples that never fully dries needs smarter detailing than a brochure allows.
That’s what the free look is for. We read the house: which walls face the weather, where the sprinklers hit, how much shade the wall lives in, and whether real wood or engineered wood is the honest recommendation for the way you’ll actually maintain it.
From Lansing and East Lansing out through Grand Ledge, Ithaca, and the whole nine-county area, the standard is the same: back-primed boards, flashed openings, held clearances, and carpentry we’d put on our own houses.
Straight answers about wood siding installation.
These are the same answers we give on the phone, kept short. Browse completed jobs in our gallery.
Is wood siding a good idea in Michigan?
Yes, if it’s installed with obsessive water management and maintained on a cycle. Freeze-thaw and humidity punish neglected wood, but properly installed and coated cedar has protected Michigan farmhouses for a century. The install quality and your willingness to re-coat every few years are what decide it.
How often does wood siding need to be stained or painted?
Plan on stain every 3 to 5 years and paint every 7 to 10, depending on exposure and color. South and west walls weather fastest. Skipping a cycle is how wood siding goes from beautiful to expensive, so we’re honest about this schedule before you commit.
What’s the difference between wood and engineered wood siding?
Real wood is milled boards, usually cedar. Engineered wood like LP SmartSide is wood fiber bonded with resin and treated against moisture and insects, with the same look from the curb, better impact resistance, longer coating cycles, and a 5/50-year warranty. We install both and price them side by side.
How much does wood siding installation cost?
More than vinyl, in the same neighborhood as fiber cement, and it varies with the board, profile, and the amount of trim carpentry your house needs. We put a firm price in writing after a free look. No pressure and no games with numbers.
Can you match the existing wood siding on part of my house?
Usually, yes. We can match most lap widths and profiles, and blend stain or paint to the weathered color, or coat the whole wall so it reads as one. On older discontinued profiles we’ll show you the closest match before any work starts.
How long does wood siding last?
Maintained cedar runs 30 years and often far more. Engineered wood carries a 50-year prorated warranty on the substrate. In both cases the moisture details at install, flashing, clearances, and back-priming, are what let the material reach its number.
Do you handle the trim and soffit too?
Yes. Wood siding only looks right when the trim, corners, fascia, and soffit are done to the same standard, and ventilation behind the wall and at the soffit line matters for the wood’s lifespan. We build the whole exterior as one system.
Do you install wood siding on older and historic homes?
Yes, and it’s some of our favorite work. Older mid-Michigan homes usually need profile matching, selective sheathing repair, and trim carpentry rather than a catalog install. We match lap widths and profiles as closely as available stock allows and show you samples before committing.
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 talk honestly about wood siding.
Call the crew for a free, no-obligation look. We’ll tell you if wood is right for your house, and what it takes to keep it beautiful.
(989) 900-0018