Lynden Exterior Cedar Has Real Appeal — We Get It
Cedar siding is beautiful. It has a warmth and a natural grain that manufactured products spend a lot of marketing dollars trying to imitate. It's a renewable material, it smells great fresh off the truck, and on the right home in the right setting, few things look as good going up the wall for the first time. If a homeowner in Lynden asks us about cedar, we're not going to pretend it's a bad-looking product, because it isn't.
The problem isn't day one. It's year eight, year twelve, year twenty — and it's specific to what Whatcom County weather does to solid wood siding over time. This page explains why, after years of exterior work in this region, we made the decision to stop installing it.
What Actually Happens to Cedar Here
Cedar is a natural, permeable material. It absorbs and releases moisture with the weather, and that's fine in a dry climate. It's a much tougher assignment in a place that gets driving rain off the water for a good chunk of the year, followed by long stretches of damp, low-sun conditions that never quite dry the wood out between storms. That combination is exactly what drives moss and mildew growth on north- and west-facing walls — and once moss takes hold on wood siding, it holds moisture against the surface and accelerates everything else that's already working against it.
- Cupping and checking: repeated wet-dry cycles cause boards to swell, shrink, and crack along the grain over the years.
- Finish breakdown: stain and sealer on cedar typically need reapplication every 3-5 years to keep the wood protected. Skip a cycle or two and the wood starts absorbing water directly.
- Moss and mildew: the long moss season in this part of Whatcom County means shaded, north-facing elevations need regular cleaning to keep growth from taking hold and staining the wood.
- Insect and rot vulnerability: once a board's protective finish is compromised, cedar becomes attractive to insects and vulnerable to rot, especially at butt joints, fastener holes, and anywhere water can sit.
- Combustibility: it's still wood. It doesn't carry the fire resistance that fiber cement does, which matters more every year in the Pacific Northwest.
None of this means cedar is a bad product. It means cedar is a high-maintenance product, and it was engineered for a different relationship between homeowner and house than most people actually want — one that involves inspecting, cleaning, and refinishing the exterior on a recurring schedule for as long as they own the home.
The Maintenance Math
This is the part that doesn't show up in the initial installation quote. A cedar exterior isn't a one-time purchase — it's an ongoing commitment. Refinishing a full exterior every few years, cleaning moss and mildew off shaded walls, replacing individual boards that have cupped or split, and touching up caulking around trim adds up in both cost and hassle over a 20-30 year window. Salt-laden air near the water and driving winter rain both shorten the interval between maintenance cycles compared to drier inland climates, which means Whatcom County homeowners with cedar siding tend to be on the more demanding end of that maintenance schedule, not the lighter end.
We're not saying homeowners can't manage that upkeep. Plenty of people love the process and keep beautiful cedar exteriors going for decades. We're saying that as a company, we don't want to install a product on someone's home and then watch it need serious attention within the first decade if that maintenance schedule slips — which is common, because life gets busy and refinishing a whole house is not a small job.
Why We Install James Hardie Instead
James Hardie fiber cement is engineered specifically to hold up against exactly the conditions that wear cedar down. It's non-combustible, it doesn't absorb water the way wood does, and it isn't a food source for insects. Hardie's ColorPlus factory finish is baked on under controlled conditions and backed by its own finish warranty, so homeowners aren't standing on a ladder every few years trying to keep a stain coat even. The HZ5 product line is specifically formulated for wet, moisture-heavy climates like ours, which matters when driving rain and a long moss season are just part of the yearly calendar here.
It also holds a straight line and a crisp look over time in a way that wood, by its nature, can't — no cupping, no checking, no board-by-board replacement down the road. For a Lynden home, that's a siding system built for the actual weather it has to survive, not just the weather on installation day.
Our Take
If a beautiful, natural, high-maintenance exterior is what a homeowner wants and they're ready for the upkeep, cedar can be the right call — just not one we're willing to install and stand behind. For everyone else, we believe a fiber cement system engineered for this exact climate is the smarter long-term investment, and it's the only siding we put on homes.
If you're weighing cedar against fiber cement for a home in Lynden or anywhere else in Whatcom County, we're happy to walk the exterior with you and talk through what actually makes sense for your house. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate — no obligation, just an honest conversation.