Mount Vernon Two Different Products, Two Different Jobs
Vinyl and fiber cement get compared constantly because they're both common re-siding choices, but they're not really competing on the same terms. Vinyl is a thin PVC plastic panel designed to be inexpensive and fast to install. Fiber cement is a cement, sand, and cellulose fiber composite designed to behave more like a rigid, engineered building material. Once you understand that difference, most of the practical trade-offs make sense on their own.
We're not neutral on this — Mount Vernon Siding installs only James Hardie fiber cement, and we don't do vinyl jobs. That said, vinyl isn't a scam product and plenty of houses wear it just fine. This page is meant to explain honestly why we made the call we did, not to trash a product that millions of homes are sided with.
Why Skagit County Climate Matters Here
Mount Vernon sits in a pocket of the Skagit Valley that gets a specific combination of weather: salt-tinged air pushing in off the Salish Sea, long stretches of driving rain through fall and winter, and a moss season that can run most of the year on shaded, north-facing walls. None of that is dramatic weather compared to a hurricane zone, but it's persistent, and persistent moisture and salt exposure are exactly the conditions that separate siding products over a 15-to-20-year timeline rather than a 2-year one.
Where Vinyl Does Fine
- Upfront cost — vinyl is almost always the cheaper material and faster to install, which lowers the total job price.
- Low maintenance in mild, dry climates — it doesn't need painting and won't rot.
- Wide color and style availability at most price points.
Where the Trade-offs Show Up Here
Moisture and Moss
Vinyl panels are installed with room to expand and contract, which means there are small gaps and overlaps by design. In a climate with occasional hard rain that's usually manageable, but Skagit County's rain is prolonged and wind-driven often enough that water can work behind panels over time, especially around windows, corners, and lower courses where moss and organic buildup hold moisture against the wall longer. Vinyl itself won't rot, but the wood sheathing and trim behind it can, and by the time you'd notice, the damage is already behind the wall.
Heat, Cold, and Warping
Vinyl is a thin plastic, and thin plastic reacts to temperature swings. It can warp, buckle, or become brittle in ways that show on the wall as wavy panels — usually on south- or west-facing walls with direct sun exposure, which isn't rare even in a marine climate.
Salt Air
Vinyl doesn't corrode the way metal does, but the color is baked into the plastic itself and tends to chalk, fade, and go brittle faster in salt-exposed, high-UV coastal conditions than manufacturers' glossy brochures suggest. Once it fades, there's no repainting your way back — you're looking at replacement.
Impact and Wind
Vinyl panels can crack from impact (a stray branch, a ladder, hail) and individual panels are a hassle to color-match years later since formulations and sun exposure change the shade over time.
Where Fiber Cement Earns Its Cost
James Hardie fiber cement is dense, rigid, and non-combustible. It doesn't warp in heat, doesn't get brittle in cold, and holds its shape tightly against the wall rather than flexing with wind. Because it's engineered specifically for wet Pacific Northwest conditions in Hardie's HZ5 product line, it's manufactured to resist moisture-related damage in exactly the kind of long, wet winters Mount Vernon sees. The ColorPlus factory finish is baked on under controlled conditions, which holds color and resists fading far better than field-applied paint or plastic pigment — and if it's ever damaged, Hardie's finish is designed to be practically color-matched, not guessed at.
It costs more upfront and takes a more experienced crew to install correctly — fiber cement is unforgiving of sloppy flashing, caulking, or nailing, and a bad installation can cause real problems. That's exactly why we only install it ourselves rather than subcontracting it out cheap.
Side-by-Side, Honestly
| Factor | Vinyl | Fiber Cement (Hardie) |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher |
| Fire resistance | Combustible plastic | Non-combustible |
| Moisture/moss resilience | Moderate — gaps by design | Strong when installed to spec |
| Color longevity in salt air/UV | Fades, chalks over time | Factory finish holds color |
| Impact resistance | Can crack, warp with heat | Rigid, holds shape |
| Typical lifespan | 15-25 years | 30-50+ years with maintenance |
Our Bottom Line
If budget is the only factor and the house isn't in a harsh sun or moisture pocket, vinyl isn't an unreasonable choice — it's just not the choice we're willing to put our name behind. Given what Mount Vernon and Skagit County weather actually does to a wall over 20 years — the rain, the moss, the salt air off the Sound — we standardized on James Hardie because it holds up to exactly those conditions, and because a strong transferable warranty means something when the product behind it is built to last that long.
If you're weighing your own siding options, we're happy to walk your specific house — sun exposure, wall orientation, existing moisture issues — and give you a straight, no-pressure estimate for what a Hardie fiber cement install would actually cost and involve. No obligation either way.