All About Exterior Paint for LP Engineered Wood Siding

Regular painting is a necessary component to maintaining engineered wood siding for the long term. Here are some helpful tips that you should know when deciding how to paint your LP® SmartSide® siding options. 

Priming the Siding

To protect the product and to save you time, the front and edge surfaces of LP SmartSide siding and trim are primed at the factory. Sometimes as the products are cut on the jobsite, it leaves the wood substrate exposed. According to the terms of LP's application instructions, all exposed edges of LP® SmartSide® siding and trim must be primed and painted with approved paint to protect the siding substrate. The back side is better left unpainted. Therefore, do not prime the back side of the siding or trim. While back priming has proven to be useful to control tannin staining with some types of solid wood siding, trim and some composite sidings, LP SmartSide products are not intended to be back primed.

Types of Paint to Use

When you are selecting paint to use on LP SmartSide engineered wood products, we highly recommend acrylic latex coatings designed specifically for wood composites. Refer to the paint manufacturer's application instructions.

Don't Use Transparent Stains

There are new acrylic latex paints commercially available that can replicate the appearance of a semi-transparent stain. Refer to the paint manufacturer's application instructions for proper finishing.

To find out where to purchase LP SmartSide siding options, locate a retailer or remodeler in your area.