Skagit County Home Inspection (King of the House):Can you identify this photo?

Realtors often have a suspicion that there is something fishy with the siding. But they sometimes do not know how to tell if it is LP siding. The photo below is what they should be looking for, if they suspect LP inner seal siding. That was the oriented strand board that was touted as a wonder product in the mid 1980's through the 1990's, but it often turned to egg cartons when exposed to moisture. The signature knot is obvious, when you see it. Note the L and the P. The problem is, due to the way the siding is cut, you might have to look around a bit, as not every board will have the knot and sometimes paint will fill it to a point it is tough to see. By the way, a deal is not necessarily out of the woods if the composite siding is not LP. Weyerhauser and Masonite made similar products (not as easy to identify as LP) and the problems were much the same: de-lamination, decay. Granted, I know many of these products hold up better if well painted and caulked, but the main intent of this post is to give a clear picture of the knot, so you know what to look for. If you can get by with it, you can lightly trace the LP with a pencil, in an out of the way area, to get a better look at the knot. Beside that is an example of LP going south. In the northwest, a home inspector who misses LP siding (OSB in general) is likely to be in hot water. It is not always called as a problem, if it looks to be okay, but confusing these lesser products with Hardi plank could be a real problem down the road.

L to the left, p to the right              De-lamination apparent, lower edges

Thanks for looking,

Steven L. Smith

www.kingofthehouse.com