Free Online Tool Lets Consumers Remake Home Exteriors

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers love new ideas to beautify and improve their homes. LP® SmartSide® engineered wood siding offers a new online tool for consumers to picture their homes with an exceptional exterior remodel. With the new LP Design Planner at www.smartsidenow.com/design-planner, users can create and save design projects, access information about their projects and share their projects with friends. They can choose virtually unlimited combinations of siding styles, colors and accents.  

Easy ideas
The process is easy. Users upload a photo of their home to the LP Design Planner or choose from an on-site gallery of photos of beautiful houses that should match the user's home style.  To a home visual they can apply a variety of lap and panel siding and shake accents in many popular colors. Different products and colors can be applied to different parts of the home. Roof colors and masonry types are options too.

When using their own photo, several editing tools help them create a realistic view of their future siding project. For example, with the online eraser, users can keep windows and doors unaltered while designing the rest of the exterior.

"The LP Design Planner can help inspire consumers with project ideas, make product decisions and give them more confidence in their purchase decision. Users can save their project details, retrieve material lists and even post their designs to social media sites for family and friends to offer feedback. Ultimately, they can contact an LP preferred remodeler to get started on their home project right away," said Jennifer Jenkins, LP SmartSide segment marketing manager.

LP SmartSide products provide the look of natural cedar wood for a premium appearance. They have the durability of a treated engineered wood product and are tested for toughness including resistance to decay, impact (www.lpsmartside.com), termites and harsh weather conditions.

LP SmartSide products are manufactured with LP's proprietary SmartGuard^® process and come with an industry-leading 5/50-year limited warranty; go to www.lpcorp.com for details.

Contractor guidance, product availability
The LP Design Planner enables users to find a contractor (www.smartsidenow.com/find-contractor) who may be able to help and offers important points for determining which contractor is best for the project. Consumers can also search for dealers and lumber yards that carry LP products and may be able to help them with additional product or contractor information.

More information
Local building materials retailers can special order other products found in LP SmartSide exterior products brochures (http://lpcorp.com/resources/literature).

For more information about the LP Design Planner or other home projects and LP SmartSide products, visit www.smartsidenow.com.

About LP Building Products
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation is a leading manufacturer of quality engineered wood building materials including OSB, structural framing products, and exterior siding for use in residential, industrial and light commercial construction. From manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, Chile and Brazil, LP products are sold to builders and homeowners through building materials distributors and dealers and retail home centers. Founded in 1973, LP is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under LPX. For more information, visit www.lpcorp.com.

Video with caption: "Consumers can watch this brief video to see how easy it is to use a new online tool to picture their homes with an exceptional exterior remodel. The new LP SmartSide Online Design Planner enables users to create and save design projects, access information about their projects and share their projects with friends. Consumers can choose virtually unlimited combinations of siding styles, colors and accents." Video available at: http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/FX-DC95307-20131010-1.mp4

Image with caption: "'Before' house photo: This is a photo of a house before visual effects of the LP SmartSide Online Design Planner were applied to it." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131010/DC95307-a

Image with caption: "'After' house visual: This image is the same house with a new siding look after the effects of the LP SmartSide Online Design Planner. The new colors and lap and shake siding are a beautiful result of the Design Planner tool." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131010/DC95307-b

SOURCE LP SmartSide