L-P Deal Sets Aside Millions Fund Will Help Homeowners Replace Bad Siding

A $275 million class-action settlement will allow some 800,000 homeowners in North America to replace a brand of siding that turns soggy in wet weather.

Under terms of the deal reached Monday, any homeowner whose Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Inner-Seal siding becomes damaged over the next seven years would be able to dip into the settlement fund for the cost of replacing the material.

The Inner-Seal siding was made at L-P’s Chilco, Idaho, plant, 15 miles north of Coeur d’Alene, for six years.

The lawsuit said the siding, which resembles cedar but is made of wood chips and resin covered with resin-soaked paper, soaks up moisture, swells and cracks.

Wood-eating fungi goes through the siding “faster than you can watch it,” said Bill Dost, a former University of California researcher. Louisiana-Pacific maintains up to 90 percent of the problems can be traced to improper installation and maintenance.

A lawyer for the company did acknowledge the failure rate is higher in the damp Northwest.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones accepted the deal, but chastised lawyers for running up $26.2 million in fees.

It is estimated that the 2.7 billion board feet of siding produced by the company was used on about 800,000 homes in the United States and Canada. However, only about 200,000 homeowners have called a toll-free number (1-800-245-2722) set up after the tentative settlement was reached last fall.

Homeowners have complained that the settlement would pay only for the replacement of already damaged siding, despite testimony that eventually most of the siding would go bad. Homeowners would have to come back in each of the seven years covered by the settlement to get more money if they wanted more siding replaced.

Homeowners have 30 days to decide whether to opt out of the settlement to file their own lawsuits against the company.

, DataTimes