Anacortes Window Old Town Anacortes is one of the city's older residential pockets, and homes here carry a lot of history in their walls — including whatever siding decisions were made decades ago, long before anyone was thinking about ColorPlus finishes or climate-engineered product lines. We install siding throughout Skagit County, and Old Town is a neighborhood where the age of the housing stock and the demands of a marine climate come together in a way that makes the choice of material, and the quality of the installation, matter more than it might on a newer build across town.
What Old Town Anacortes Homes Are Up Against
Anacortes sits on the water, and Old Town's older housing stock has spent years — often decades — absorbing everything that comes with that location. Salt air off the water works on wood, fasteners, and finishes in ways that inland homes never have to deal with. Driving rain doesn't just fall straight down here; wind off the water pushes it sideways into walls, testing every seam, joint, and piece of trim on a home's exterior. And Skagit County's long, damp season means a lot of siding surfaces — especially anything shaded or north-facing — stay wet longer than they would somewhere drier, which is exactly the environment moss needs to get established and keep coming back.
Older homes in this part of town were often sided with whatever was standard at the time of construction or a previous remodel — old wood lap siding, early fiber cement, or other materials that have now had thirty, forty, or more years to show what that combination of salt, rain, and moss actually does over the long run. That history is useful information for us. It tells us what's held up, what hasn't, and what a replacement needs to do differently.
Common Signs Older Siding in This Neighborhood Needs Replacing
When we inspect a home in Old Town, a handful of issues show up more often than not — some cosmetic, some pointing to real moisture problems building behind the wall. It's worth knowing what to look for before a small issue becomes an expensive one:
- Cracked, warped, or delaminating boards, especially on walls that face prevailing wind and rain
- Paint that's peeling, bubbling, or chalking faster than a normal repaint cycle would suggest
- Soft or spongy spots when you press on siding near the bottom courses or below windows — a sign moisture has already gotten in
- Persistent moss or algae staining on shaded or north-facing walls that keeps returning after cleaning
- Gaps or separation at butt joints, corners, and trim where caulking has failed
- Visible rust streaking from old or corroding fasteners
Any one of these on its own might just mean it's time for a repaint. Several of them together, especially on an older home, usually means the siding itself — or the water-resistive barrier behind it — has reached the end of its useful life.
Why We Install Only James Hardie Fiber Cement Here
We install one siding product across every job we take on, including here in Old Town: James Hardie fiber cement. It's non-combustible, it doesn't have an organic core for moisture to work into the way wood does, and it's dimensionally stable, so it isn't prone to the warping and cracking that shows up on a lot of the older siding we replace in this neighborhood. Hardie's ColorPlus finish is baked on at the factory and backed by its own warranty against fading and chalking, which matters in a climate that puts real UV and salt exposure on a finish year-round. Hardie also builds HZ product lines specifically engineered for wetter, harsher exposure zones like ours, rather than selling the same generic formulation everywhere in the country.
We don't install vinyl, LP SmartSide, Cemplank, Allura, primed spruce, or cedar. That's a professional standard we've settled on, not a knock on every home that has one of those products on it — it's simply the material we're willing to install and warranty our workmanship against, on the kind of exposure an Old Town Anacortes home actually deals with.
What a Correct Siding Installation Actually Involves
The product is only part of the equation. On an older home especially, the installation details underneath the siding are what actually determine whether the wall stays dry for the next thirty years or develops a hidden moisture problem in five.
Tear-Off and Substrate Inspection
Removing old siding is also our best chance to see what's actually going on behind it — sheathing condition, old flashing, any evidence of past water intrusion. On an older Old Town home, this step sometimes turns up damaged sheathing or framing that needs to be addressed before any new siding goes up. Skipping this inspection, or covering over a problem instead of fixing it, is one of the more common shortcuts that leads to trouble later.
Weather-Resistive Barrier and Flashing
Fiber cement siding is not, by itself, what keeps water out of a wall — the weather-resistive barrier and flashing behind it are doing that job. Every window, door, and roof-to-wall intersection needs flashing detailed correctly and integrated with the barrier in the right order, so water that gets past the siding is directed back out rather than into the wall assembly. This is the part of the job that doesn't show once the siding is up, and it's also the part that matters most in a climate that pushes wind-driven rain into walls as often as this one does.
Fastening, Clearances, and Joint Details
Hardie siding has specific fastening requirements — fastener type, spacing, and placement all affect how the material performs over time, and getting them wrong can void the manufacturer warranty. Proper clearance from grade, decks, roof lines, and other penetrations keeps splash-back and standing moisture away from the bottom edge of the siding, which is consistently where we see the earliest failures on older, incorrectly installed exteriors.
Our Installation Process
- On-site inspection of current siding, trim, and any visible signs of moisture damage, with an honest read on what's driving the issues we find
- A written scope and estimate covering material, labor, and any substrate repair we expect to encounter
- Careful removal of existing siding and inspection of sheathing and framing before anything new goes up
- Repair of any damaged substrate, followed by installation of a new weather-resistive barrier and correctly integrated flashing
- Installation of James Hardie siding and trim to manufacturer fastening and clearance specifications
- A final walkthrough so you know exactly what was done and what to expect going forward
Hardie Product Lines We Install in Old Town Anacortes
| Product Line | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| HardiePlank Lap Siding | Most Old Town homes, matching a traditional lap-siding profile | Smooth or cedar-textured finish, wide color range |
| HardiePanel Vertical Siding | Accent walls, porches, gable ends | Clean modern lines, pairs well with lap siding on a mixed-style remodel |
| HardieTrim Boards | Window and door surrounds, corners, fascia | Won't rot the way old wood trim does; matches the siding profile |
| HZ10 Climate Engineered | Homes with direct wind and water exposure | Formulated for wetter, harsher climate zones like Skagit County |
What Influences the Cost of a Siding Installation
| Factor | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Condition of existing sheathing and framing | Older homes more often need substrate repair once old siding comes off, which affects scope |
| Home size and wall complexity | More corners, dormers, and trim details mean more labor and material |
| Amount of trim and detail work | Window and door surrounds, corner boards, and fascia add time beyond flat wall panels |
| Access and site conditions | Older lots with tight setbacks or limited staging room can affect scaffolding and logistics |
| Product line and finish selected | Textures, colors, and HZ formulations vary in material cost |
We give a written estimate after seeing the home in person — general ranges online rarely account for what's actually behind an older home's existing siding, and we'd rather scope it accurately than guess low and revise later.
Why a Crew That Already Works in Old Town Anacortes Matters
Older neighborhoods come with their own practical realities — narrower lots, mature landscaping close to the house, foundations and framing that don't always match modern assumptions, and sometimes permitting or code considerations tied to the age of the structure. A crew that's already worked on homes in Old Town has seen those realities before and knows how to plan around them, rather than discovering them mid-project. We also know, from repeated jobs in this part of Anacortes, which walls take the worst of the wind and salt exposure and which details are worth extra attention because of it — knowledge that comes from doing the work here, not from a general spec sheet.
What to Expect From an Estimate
- A walk-around inspection of your current siding and trim, noting condition and likely problem areas
- An honest explanation of what's failing due to age versus what points to a past installation shortcut
- A clear answer on why we recommend James Hardie fiber cement for a home in this location
- A written, itemized scope and estimate — no pressure to sign on the spot
If your Old Town Anacortes home has siding that's cracking, staining, or just showing its age, we're glad to take a look and give you a straight answer about what it needs. Reach out for a free, no-pressure estimate.