Custer Cedar Has a Real Appeal
We get asked about cedar siding often enough that it's worth a straight answer. Cedar is a genuinely good-looking material. It has natural grain, warm color, and a look that vinyl and fiber cement have spent decades trying to imitate with embossed textures. Western red cedar, grown right here in the Pacific Northwest, has natural oils that give it some built-in resistance to rot and insects compared to other softwoods. On paper, it seems like the obvious choice for a home in Whatcom County.
In practice, we stopped installing it. Not because it's a bad material in a vacuum, but because of what happens to it once it's hung on an exterior wall in Custer's climate and left to weather the way most homeowners actually live — without a rigorous, expensive maintenance schedule.
What Cedar Actually Demands Over Time
Cedar is wood, and wood moves. It expands and contracts with moisture, and in a region where driving rain off the Strait of Georgia can soak a wall for days at a stretch, that movement adds up. Boards cup, twist, and develop checking (the fine cracks that open along the grain) faster than most homeowners expect. Once the factory finish or field-applied stain starts to break down — usually within three to five years, sometimes sooner on south and west exposures — the wood underneath is exposed directly to moisture.
That maintenance cycle is the real issue. To keep cedar siding performing the way it looks like it should, you're on the hook for:
- Re-staining or re-sealing every three to five years, more often on weather-exposed walls
- Regular washing to control the moss and algae growth that thrives in our shaded, damp winters
- Prompt repair of any board that starts to crack, cup, or hold water at the joints
- Careful attention to caulking and flashing, since trapped moisture behind cedar is what actually causes rot, not just surface weathering
Whatcom County's climate is not gentle on any siding material, but cedar is one of the least forgiving when that maintenance schedule slips. Between the salt air moving inland off the bay, the long stretch of wet months, and a moss season that can run from fall through spring, cedar left unmaintained for even a couple of years starts to show it — graying, staining, softening at the bottom courses and around window trim where water tends to sit.
The Deferred-Maintenance Trap
Most homeowners don't stain their siding on a strict five-year clock. Life gets in the way, a re-stain gets pushed a season or two, and by the time it happens the wood has already started absorbing moisture it shouldn't. Once rot sets in at a butt joint or a corner board, it's usually spreading behind the surface before it's visible from the ground. Replacing rotted sections means matching grain and color on a material that's been outside aging in the sun for years — rarely a clean fix.
We're not willing to sell a homeowner a product that looks great in the first photos and then quietly turns into a recurring maintenance bill, especially in a climate that punishes any lapse in upkeep as consistently as ours does.
Why We Install James Hardie Instead
James Hardie fiber cement is engineered specifically to hold up in wet, coastal climates like ours, and Hardie's HZ5 product line is formulated for exactly the freeze-thaw and moisture exposure the Pacific Northwest sees. A few of the practical differences that matter for a home in Custer:
| Cedar | James Hardie Fiber Cement |
|---|---|
| Absorbs moisture; prone to cupping, checking, and rot | Fiber cement composition resists moisture-driven warping |
| Field or factory stain fades in 3-5 years | Factory-applied ColorPlus finish is baked on and warranted separately from the substrate |
| Combustible | Non-combustible material |
| Susceptible to moss, algae, and insect damage | Engineered surface holds up better against moss and mildew staining |
| Ongoing re-stain/reseal maintenance cycle | Occasional washing; no re-staining cycle required |
Hardie isn't maintenance-free — no exterior siding is, and it still needs to be washed occasionally and checked at caulk lines and penetrations like anything else. But it's built to shrug off exactly the conditions that wear cedar down fastest: sustained moisture, salt-laden air, and long stretches of gray, damp weather. Backed by a strong transferable warranty and installed to Hardie's spec, it's a siding system we can stand behind for the long haul on homes throughout Whatcom County, not just for the first few years.
If you're weighing cedar against other options for a Custer home, we're happy to walk your property, talk through what your specific exposure looks like — sun, shade, wind-driven rain, proximity to the water — and give you a straightforward, no-pressure estimate on what a Hardie install would involve.