Anacortes Siding Cedar siding has a real appeal. It's a natural material, it ages with character, and a lot of homeowners in Anacortes and around Skagit County grew up around it — on boathouses, cabins, and older homes throughout the San Juans. We understand why people ask for it. But after years of working on homes exposed to salt air off Fidalgo Bay, driving winter rain, and a moss season that seems to run nine months out of twelve, we made a decision: we don't install cedar siding. Here's the honest reasoning behind that, not a sales pitch against a good-looking product.
What Cedar Gets Right
Cedar is a genuinely good wood. It has natural oils that resist decay better than most softwoods, it's lightweight, it takes stain well, and it has a warmth that manufactured products spend a lot of marketing budget trying to imitate. On a dry site with good roof overhangs and an owner committed to upkeep, cedar can look great for a long time. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
Where the Trouble Starts: Moisture
The problem isn't cedar as a species — it's cedar as a siding product in a Pacific Northwest coastal climate. Wood siding is dimensionally reactive. It swells when it absorbs moisture and shrinks as it dries out, over and over, season after season. In a climate with long stretches of driving rain followed by damp, low-sun winters, that cycle rarely completes before the next soaking starts. The result is checking, cupping, and joints that open up over time — all of which give water more places to get behind the siding, not less.
Add salt air near the water, and you get an additional factor: airborne salt holds moisture against surfaces longer than dry inland air would. That's part of why boats get hauled and refinished constantly out here, and it's the same physics working against a wood exterior wall.
The Maintenance Schedule Nobody Tells You Upfront
This is the part that matters most to a homeowner's actual budget and calendar. Cedar siding is not a "install it and forget it" product. To keep it performing, it typically needs:
- Restaining or repainting on a cycle of roughly every 3-7 years, depending on sun exposure, elevation face, and finish quality — sooner on south and west walls that take the brunt of weather
- Regular washing to slow moss and algae growth, which take hold fast in shaded, damp corners common to wooded Skagit County lots
- Caulk and joint inspection, since shrink-swell cycles open seams that need re-sealing
- Prompt repair of any cracked or split boards before water gets behind them, since rot spreads from the inside out and isn't always visible early
None of this is a defect in the wood — it's simply what wood siding requires to hold up long-term in a wet, marine climate. The honest question for a homeowner isn't "is cedar nice" (it is), it's "do I want to own that maintenance schedule for the next 20-30 years, and pay for it out of pocket every time."
Moss: The Quiet Problem
Moss and algae don't just look bad on wood siding — they hold moisture against the surface, which accelerates the exact decay process cedar is otherwise reasonably good at resisting. Anacortes' combination of marine humidity, tree cover, and long grey stretches without direct sun creates ideal conditions for it on north- and shade-facing walls. Keeping it in check means regular cleaning, and skipping a season or two lets it get ahead of you.
Cost Over Time, Not Just at Install
Cedar siding can sometimes install for a comparable price to other materials, but the real cost shows up over the ownership period — refinishing labor, materials, and the risk of hidden rot repair if maintenance lapses even briefly. We'd rather tell a homeowner that upfront than have them find out at year six.
Why We Install James Hardie Instead
James Hardie fiber cement is a manufactured product engineered specifically to remove the weaknesses we just described. It's dimensionally stable, so it doesn't swell and shrink with every rain cycle the way wood does. It's manufactured with an HZ5 formulation built for wet, freeze-thaw climates like ours. It comes with a factory-applied ColorPlus finish that's baked on and warrantied against fading — no repainting cycle every few years. It doesn't feed rot the way wood fiber can, and it's non-combustible, which matters to a lot of homeowners for insurance and safety reasons alike. And it carries a strong, transferable manufacturer warranty when installed to spec, which gives homeowners real protection instead of a maintenance obligation.
We're not saying cedar is a bad material — it's a beautiful one that asks a lot of its owner in a climate like Anacortes'. Fiber cement gives you a similar range of profiles and a genuinely wood-like look, without handing you that maintenance bill every few years.
Talk It Through With Us
If you're weighing cedar against fiber cement for a home in Anacortes or anywhere in Skagit County, we're glad to walk through your specific site — sun exposure, tree cover, proximity to salt air — and give you a straight answer, not a sales pitch. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate and we'll help you figure out what actually makes sense for your home.