9 min read · Siding Replacement
If your California home has Allura fiber cement siding, you may have heard about a class-action settlement and wondered what it means for you. Here's the honest picture: Allura is a legitimate fiber-cement brand that is still manufactured and sold today, and a $12.5 million settlement resolved allegations about siding from two plants during specific 2014–2015 production windows — allegations the manufacturer denied, and a claims process that has since closed. This guide separates the documented facts from the internet noise: what Allura is, what the settlement actually covered, how to assess whether your siding is performing or failing, and the repair-versus-replacement path if it isn't.
What Allura is — and its CertainTeed roots
Allura is a fiber-cement siding brand made by Plycem USA, a subsidiary of the Elementia group, offering a full exterior system — lap, panel, shake, trim, and soffit — that remains in active production today. The lineage matters for California homeowners: in late 2013, Plycem acquired CertainTeed's fiber-cement siding division (including its U.S. plants), and the product line relaunched under the Allura name in 2014. That's why owners of older CertainTeed WeatherBoards siding often land on Allura when they research their walls — Allura is the corporate descendant of that line, though Plycem has said it reworked the formulation after the acquisition. At the material level, Allura is genuine fiber cement — cellulose fiber, sand, silica, and Portland cement per the manufacturer — which makes it noncombustible as a category, the trait that matters most in California's wildfire-exposed regions. For how it stacks up against the market leader, see James Hardie vs. Allura.
The $12.5 million settlement — documented facts only
State this carefully, because the facts are narrower than the headlines. A class-action lawsuit alleged that certain Allura siding was prone to cracking, bowing, shrinking, warping, breaking, and gapping. According to Bloomberg Law's coverage of the case, a federal court in South Carolina granted final approval to a $12.5 million settlement on May 21, 2021. The settlement class was specific: homes with Allura siding manufactured at Plycem's White City, Oregon plant between February 1 and May 7, 2014, or at its Roaring River, North Carolina plant between February 1, 2014 and February 18, 2015. Two things follow from that. First, these were allegations resolved by settlement — Plycem denied the siding was defective and, per settlement coverage, maintained it performs well when correctly installed. Second, the class covered defined production windows, not every board Allura has ever made. A home sided with Allura in, say, 2018 or 2022 was never part of this settlement.
The claim deadline has passed — what that means now
According to Top Class Actions, the deadline to file a claim in the Allura settlement was June 21, 2023, and the settlement is now closed. If your siding would have qualified and you didn't file, there is no open class-action claim to pursue today — and this guide is not legal advice about reviving one. Practically, that shifts the question from 'can I get compensated?' to 'what condition is my siding actually in, and what should I do about it?' That's a better question anyway, because the answer is the same whether or not your boards came from the covered plants: assess the installation, address active failures before they become water damage, and plan replacement on evidence rather than fear. Allura also publishes its own limited warranty on current products — if your siding is newer, checking your warranty position directly with the manufacturer is worth doing before anything else.
Is YOUR Allura siding failing — or fine?
Many Allura installations are performing without issue, and that's not a throwaway line — in fiber cement, installation quality matters enormously, a point even the settlement's defendants leaned on. The documented complaint patterns to look for are the ones alleged in the litigation: cracking through the board face, bowing or warping off the wall plane, shrinkage gaps opening between board ends (the settlement used gaps greater than 3/16 inch as a damage benchmark), and edge breakage. Walk each elevation in raking light and check the worst-exposure walls first — south and west faces in the Central Valley sun, and any wall with poor roof overhang. Then look at install tells, because bad detailing mimics 'bad product': boards nailed too tight or overdriven, missing clearances at roofs and hardscape, unflashed butt joints, and unsealed cut ends all produce cracking and moisture damage in any brand of fiber cement. A handful of hairline cracks on one elevation is a repair conversation; systematic gapping and cracking across multiple walls is a re-clad conversation.
Repair vs. re-clad: the decision path
Fiber cement is repairable in a way many claddings aren't — individual boards can be cut out and replaced without disturbing the whole wall, so isolated damage rarely justifies a full tear-off. The re-clad case gets stronger when three things stack up: failure is spread across multiple elevations rather than localized, moisture has gotten behind the cladding (staining, swollen sheathing, soft spots at the interior), or repairs keep recurring because the underlying install detailing is wrong. A proper assessment should open up at least one suspect area to check the water-resistive barrier and sheathing — the wall behind the boards decides whether you have a siding problem or a wall problem. If replacement is the answer, the path is the standard one we walk in replacing old or failing siding: full tear-off, sheathing inspection, a continuous WRB with integrated flashing, and new cladding installed to the manufacturer's specifications. That last clause is the whole game — the litigation history in this category is as much a story about installation and detailing as about any formula.
The honest bottom line: the category is sound
Don't let a settlement headline turn into the wrong conclusion about fiber cement itself. The material category — including Allura's current products, James Hardie, and Nichiha — remains one of the best-performing cladding choices for California: dimensionally stable, resistant to rot and pests, and noncombustible, which is why it anchors so many wildfire-hardening projects. Every major building-products category has litigation in its past; what matters for your home is the specific product, its condition, and above all the quality of the installation. If you're replacing Allura and weighing what goes up next, our fiber cement brands comparison covers what's genuinely the same and different across brands, and James Hardie vs. Allura covers the head-to-head. And if your research started because your boards say CertainTeed, not Allura, go to the WeatherBoards replacement guide — that's a different product era with its own settlement history.
Key takeaways
- Allura is a real, currently sold fiber-cement brand (Plycem USA/Elementia) with roots in CertainTeed's former fiber-cement line.
- A $12.5M class settlement (final approval May 2021, per Bloomberg Law) resolved cracking/warping/gapping allegations for siding from two plants in defined 2014–2015 windows — Plycem denied any defect.
- The claim deadline (June 21, 2023, per Top Class Actions) has passed; the practical question now is your siding's actual condition, not a class claim.
- Many Allura installs are performing fine — assess for through-board cracking, bowing, and shrinkage gaps, and separate product issues from installation-detailing issues.
- Isolated damage is usually repairable board-by-board; multi-elevation failure or moisture behind the cladding points to tear-off and re-clad with a properly detailed WRB.
FAQ
Quick Answers
No open class claim that we're aware of. The $12.5 million class settlement received final court approval in May 2021, and according to Top Class Actions the deadline to file a claim was June 21, 2023 — the settlement is closed. This isn't legal advice; if you believe you have an individual claim, consult an attorney. For most homeowners, the productive next step is a condition assessment of the siding itself.
No — and the settlement itself didn't say so. The class covered siding manufactured at two plants during specific windows in 2014–2015, and Plycem denied the product was defective, maintaining it performs well when correctly installed. Allura is still manufactured and sold today. Many installations are performing without issue; condition and installation quality on your specific home matter far more than the brand's litigation history.
Check the back face of a board if any area is accessible (a garage, attic kneewall, or during repair) — fiber cement is typically marked with the manufacturer name and production codes on the reverse side. Purchase records, the original contractor's paperwork, or a building permit from the install can also identify the brand. Homes sided around 2014 or later may have Allura; earlier fiber cement branded CertainTeed WeatherBoards is the predecessor line. A siding contractor can usually identify the product during an inspection.
Only if the Allura is actually failing — brand anxiety alone isn't a reason to tear off performing siding. If assessment shows systematic cracking, gapping, or moisture behind the cladding, replacement makes sense, and modern fiber cement (Hardie or another reputable brand) is a sound choice: the category is noncombustible and well suited to California. Whatever goes up, the installation — WRB, flashing, clearances, fastening — will matter more than the label.
Sources
Authoritative references
- Top Class Actions — Allura fiber cement siding $12.5M class action settlement (claims closed June 21, 2023)
- Bloomberg Law — Plycem $12.5 million Allura siding class settlement gets final approval (May 21, 2021)
- Allura USA — current fiber cement product line (lap, panel, shake, trim, soffit)
External links to government, code, and manufacturer sources. Sierra Siding is not affiliated with these organizations; references are provided for verification.