Anacortes What Cemplank Is
Cemplank is a fiber cement siding line manufactured by Nichiha and sold mainly through building supply distributors as a value-tier alternative to James Hardie. Fiber cement as a category is a good material — it's non-combustible, holds paint well compared to wood, and resists the rot that eventually catches up with cedar and primed spruce. Cemplank shares that basic chemistry: sand, cement, and cellulose fiber pressed into planks and panels. If you've read our other pages on why we skip vinyl or untreated wood, you already know we think fiber cement is the right family of product for this area. The question homeowners in Anacortes and around Skagit County should ask isn't "is fiber cement good" — it's which fiber cement line, and what stands behind it once it's on the wall.
Where Cemplank Holds Up Fine
To be fair to the product: Cemplank installed correctly, in a low-exposure setting, on a house that gets repainted on schedule, can perform reasonably well for years. It's not a scam product and we're not going to tell you it falls apart. Plenty of it is on homes around Washington doing an acceptable job. Our decision not to install it isn't about defamation — it's about what we're comfortable putting our name behind on a coastal, wet-climate house where the margin for a mediocre finish system or a spotty warranty is smaller than it is somewhere drier.
Why We Standardized on James Hardie Instead
Factory Finish vs. Field-Applied Paint
The biggest practical difference is the finish system. James Hardie's ColorPlus line is baked on at the factory in a controlled environment, with a finish warranty that travels with the product for a stated term. Cemplank is more commonly sold primed, meaning the paint job — and how long it lasts — depends heavily on the installer's prep and the painter's skill on that specific day, on that specific wall. In a town like Anacortes, where salt air off Rosario Strait and Guemes Channel accelerates coating breakdown, and where driving rain during our fall and winter storms tests every seam and lap, a factory-cured finish gives us a lot more confidence than a field-applied coat that's only as good as the weather conditions the day it went on.
Product Engineering for Wet Climates
Hardie builds specific formulations for different climate zones — including an HZ5 line engineered for cold, wet regions like ours, with moisture and freeze-thaw behavior tuned for the Pacific Northwest. That's a meaningful detail for Skagit County, where our long moss season means siding stays damp longer than it does in drier parts of the state. Cemplank doesn't offer that same level of regional product differentiation, so you're getting a general-purpose formulation rather than one built around what our winters actually do to a wall.
Distribution and Installer Network
James Hardie runs a certification program for contractors and backs its installations with manufacturer support and a transferable warranty structure that's well established and widely recognized by future buyers and home inspectors. Cemplank moves through a smaller, more generalist distribution channel, which means less consistency in who's installing it and how much manufacturer backing stands behind a given job if something goes wrong. When we're the ones putting siding on your house, we want a warranty and a support structure we can actually stand behind if a homeowner calls us in year eight with a question.
Resale and Appraisal Familiarity
This matters more than people expect: James Hardie is a name real estate agents, appraisers, and home inspectors in Washington already recognize. A house with documented HardiePlank siding has a clearer story at resale than one with a less familiar brand, even if the underlying material performed fine. For a lot of our clients, that recognition is part of what they're paying for.
The Bottom Line
We're not telling homeowners that Cemplank is junk — it's a legitimate fiber cement product with a real place in the market. But once we decided to specialize and stand behind one system, the factory-cured finish, climate-specific engineering, and stronger warranty backing on James Hardie made it the clear choice for houses that have to deal with salt air, driving rain, and months of moss-friendly damp weather every year. That's the standard we hold every job to, and it's why we only install Hardie.
| Factor | Cemplank | James Hardie |
|---|---|---|
| Finish | Commonly primed, field-painted | Factory ColorPlus finish, factory warranty |
| Climate-specific lines | General-purpose formulation | HZ5 line engineered for cold, wet regions |
| Installer network | General distributor channel | Certified contractor program |
| Market recognition | Less familiar to appraisers/agents | Widely recognized brand |
If you're weighing siding options for a home in Anacortes or anywhere in Skagit County, we're happy to walk through what we see holding up out here and why — no pressure, no obligation. Reach out for a free estimate and we'll give you a straight answer about what your house actually needs.