Burlington Cedar Has Real Appeal — We're Not Going to Pretend Otherwise
Cedar siding earns its reputation honestly. It's a genuine wood product with natural grain, warm color variation, and a look that manufactured materials spend a lot of effort trying to imitate. Western red cedar in particular has natural resistance to insects and some decay resistance built into the wood itself. If you've ever stood next to a freshly installed cedar-sided home, you understand the appeal immediately.
So we want to be upfront: this page isn't about telling you cedar is a bad product. It's about explaining why, after years of installing and repairing siding around Burlington and the rest of Skagit County, we made the decision to stop installing it — and what we install instead.
The Climate Problem: Burlington Doesn't Give Wood Siding a Break
Cedar siding performs best in climates that let it dry out between soakings. That's not really what Skagit County offers. Between the marine air coming off Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, the long stretches of driving rain off the Pacific storm track, and the extended damp season that runs from fall through spring, cedar siding here rarely gets the drying window it needs to perform the way it does in a drier climate.
Add in the salt air common to this part of western Washington, and you've got a combination that accelerates weathering on any exterior material — but wood siding feels it in a specific way: moisture gets absorbed into the grain itself, not just onto the surface.
- Moss and algae growth: Shaded, north-facing, and tree-adjacent walls in this region are practically guaranteed to develop moss and algae on wood siding within a few years, especially where cedar stays damp longer than it can dry.
- Grain checking and cupping: Repeated wet-dry cycles cause the wood fibers to expand and contract, which over time leads to checking (surface cracks) and boards that cup or warp.
- Finish breakdown: Stain and paint on cedar are sacrificial finishes — they're designed to wear away and need reapplication, typically every 3-5 years for stain and somewhat longer for quality paint, depending on sun and moisture exposure.
What Cedar Maintenance Actually Looks Like Long-Term
This is the part that doesn't always get explained clearly when cedar goes up. Cedar isn't a "finish it once and forget it" product — it's an ongoing commitment:
| Task | Typical Frequency in This Climate |
|---|---|
| Re-stain or re-seal | Every 3-5 years |
| Repaint (if painted instead of stained) | Every 6-8 years |
| Moss/algae treatment and washing | Annually on shaded or north-facing walls |
| Caulk inspection and touch-up | Every 1-2 years |
| Board replacement (splitting, rot, insect damage) | Ongoing, as needed |
None of these tasks are unreasonable on their own. The issue is that they compound. A homeowner who skips a re-stain cycle because life got busy — which is common — isn't just delaying cosmetic upkeep. They're letting moisture into unprotected wood, and in a climate as consistently wet as ours, that's when rot and board failure start showing up, often behind the siding before it's visible from the outside.
Installation Sensitivity Matters Too
Cedar siding is also less forgiving of installation shortcuts than people expect. Proper back-priming, correct fastener choice, adequate ventilation gaps, and careful flashing details all matter more with wood than with most manufactured siding products, because wood is actively absorbing and releasing moisture through every surface, including the back side most homeowners never see. Get any of those details wrong, and the maintenance clock we described above starts running faster than it should.
Why We Install James Hardie Instead
We standardized on James Hardie fiber cement siding because it addresses the exact problems cedar struggles with in a climate like Skagit County's. It's non-combustible, it doesn't absorb moisture the way wood does, and it's engineered specifically for climates like ours through Hardie's HZ5 product line, which is built for wetter, harsher weather conditions.
The factory-applied ColorPlus finish is baked on under controlled conditions rather than hand-applied on site, and it's backed by a real transferable finish warranty — so you're not on a 3-to-5-year re-coating cycle to protect the material underneath. It still gives you a wide range of authentic wood-grain textures and colors, so you're not sacrificing the look that drew you to cedar in the first place.
We're not installers who work with everything and let you sort out the trade-offs. We picked one system, learned it thoroughly, and stand behind it because we've seen how it holds up in this specific climate over time.
Let's Talk About Your Home
If you're weighing cedar against other options for a home in Burlington or anywhere else in Skagit County, we're happy to walk your property, talk through what your specific exposure and site conditions mean for long-term maintenance, and give you an honest, no-pressure estimate. No obligation — just a straight conversation about what will actually hold up on your house.