Patent ID: 7037572

Claim:
A trough-edge building panel comprising: a building panel comprising a front surface, a back surface, and a plurality of edges and a plurality of troughs on the front surface of the panel, each trough on the front surface of the panel extending along an edge of the panel, wherein independently for each trough, the trough is spaced inwardly from the edge of the panel by a trough edge offset, the trough is sized and configured to accept an edge of a backing material applied over a seam between adjacent panels, and the trough comprises a wall and a floor, wherein a side of the trough proximate to the edge of the panel forms the wall, wherein the height of the wall is a trough depth, the floor of the trough is lower than a surface of the panel between the wall of the trough and the edge of the panel, and the width of the floor is a trough width, wherein the building panel substantially comprises a material selected from the group consisting of inorganic substrates, fiber-reinforced inorganic substrates, aluminum, cement composites, wood, plywood, oriented strand board, wood composites, and gypsum.