How to Prepare Your Home’s Exterior for Rough Weather—While Giving It a Style Upgrade Too

We all know maintaining your home’s exterior in Pennsylvania is tough. The weather can veer from dry to humid to rainy, while temperatures cycle from zero to 100 throughout the year. Between biting frost and sweltering heat, exteriors tend to chip, crack and fade. 

However, homes in Pennsylvania can be just as beautiful as homes in any other state, featuring everything from historic colonials to modern masterpieces; and they deserve an exterior that reflects the quality of the bones of the house, whether out of pride as a homeowner or even simply for resale value. 

Thanks to advances in modern siding materials, that’s now possible. Engineered wood siding, using materials like resins and waxes to protect the integrity of the wood, helps add resistance against complex climate challenges. And with the right product, you can use this material to maintain your home’s exterior while highlighting your individual style that makes your home stand out. 

To determine how best to help protect your home, we took a closer look at the premier LP® SmartSide® engineered wood trim and siding offered by LP Building Solutions in their brushed smooth texture, and found out how it can work best for any home style. Here’s how to give your home a stylish upgrade that can hold up against our crazy climate.

Protection from the Weather

To help resist both heat and cold, siding needs to be able to expand while staying protected against the elements. Options like vinyl siding can become brittle and crack in the cold. On the other hand, natural wood is porous and can trap moisture, leaving it vulnerable to both humidity and frost. 

That’s why LP® SmartSide® products undergo their proprietary SmartGuard® manufacturing process. Through this process, each strand of wood is treated with a protective mix of resins, waxes and zinc borate, then finished with an overlay designed to help resist moisture intrusion and fungal decay. 

The end result is a siding that can help your home exterior withstand the diverse Pennsylvania climate, whether dry, hot, wet, or cold. So if you’ve ever wondered just why you have to do so many exterior repairs, it might be time to check what your siding is made of.

Stylish and Durable

When you’re ready to upgrade, it’s important that you match your materials to your home. Fortunately, LP® SmartSide® products are available in both a cedar texture and brushed smooth texture, which offers simple, clean accent looks that are nonetheless eye-catching–perfect for adapting to a variety of home styles. Their ExpertFinish®  pre-finished siding products come in 16 factory-finished colors, so there are a lot of creative combinations to play with as you choose what works for you.

You’ll want to start with your home type. The historic Philadelphia area is filled with colonial homes and their elegant exteriors often provide a great platform for showing off your personal style. To bring the home’s different elements together, choose complementary, welcoming colors for the main exterior, accents, and trim. Redwood Red, Cavern Steel, and Timberland Suede are popular color combinations for LP SmartSide products. For something a little brighter, try Summit blue, Abyss Black, and Snowscape White. 

Pennsylvania is also traditionally home to farmers and artisans. And, as one would expect, the craftsman and farmhouse home styles are popular as well. These highly functional designs benefit from a more neutral color palette: consider Snowscape White, Quarry Gray and Rapids Blue for the craftsman style. And for a farmhouse, try Abyss Black, Tundra Gray and Snowscape White. 

If you’re more of a suburbanite, you already know that Greater Philadelphia is home to some of the loveliest architecture on the East Coast. From extravagant Victorians to Modernist designs, our towns feature fascinating houses that deserve fascinating colors. Consider the elegant combination of Quarry Gray, Harvest Honey and Redwood Red for Victorians, while Modern homes benefit from something more stark: Abyss Black, Quarry Gray and Snowscape White. 

Feel free to brainstorm on your own to start, but when you’re ready, make sure to reach out to the experts at LP Building Solutions® for a free quote–so you can finally get a fresh, clean exterior that stays that way.  

This is a paid partnership between LP Building Solutions and Philadelphia Magazine