Siding

**Siding** or **wall cladding** is the protective material attached to the exterior side of a wall of a house
 or other

building. Along with the roof, it forms the first line of
defense against the elements, most importantly sun, rain/snow, heat and
cold, thus creating a stable, more comfortable environment on the
interior side. The siding material and style also can enhance or
detract from the building's beauty. There is a wide and expanding
variety of materials to side with, both natural and artificial, each
with its own benefits and drawbacks. Masonry walls as such do not
require siding, but any wall can be sided. Walls that are internally
framed, whether with wood, or steel I-beams, however, must always be
sided.

Most siding consists of pieces of weather-resistant material that
 are smaller than the wall they cover, to allow for expansion and
contraction of the materials due to moisture and temperature changes.
There are various styles of joining the pieces, from board and batton,
where the butt joints between panels is covered with a thin strip
(usually 1 to 2 inches wide) of wood, to a variety of clapboard, also
called lap siding, in which planks are laid horizontally across the wall
 starting from the bottom, and building up, the board below overlapped
by the board above it. These techniques of joinery are designed to
prevent water from entering the walls. Siding that does not consist of
pieces joined together would include stucco, which is widely used in the
 Southwest. It is a plaster-like siding and is applied over a lattice,
just like plaster. However, because of the lack of joints, it eventually
 cracks and is susceptible to water damage. Rainscreen construction is used to improve siding's ability to keep walls dry.

## Thatch

Thatch
 is an ancient and very widespread building material used on roofs and
walls. Thatch siding is made with dry vegetation such as longstraw,
water reeds, or combed wheat reed. The materials are overlapped and
weaved in patterns designed to deflect and direct water.

## Wood

Wood siding is very versatile in style and can be used on a wide
variety of building structures. It can be painted or stained in any
color palette desired.

Though installation and repair is relatively simple, wood siding
requires more maintenance than other popular solutions, requiring treatment
 every four to nine years depending on the severity of the elements to
which it is exposed. Ants and termites are a threat to many types of
wood siding, such that extra treatment and maintenance that can
significantly increase the cost in some pest-infested areas.

Wood is a moderately renewable resource and is biodegradable.
However, most paints and stains used to treat wood are not
environmentally friendly and can be toxic. Wood siding can provide some
minor insulation and structural properties as compared to thinner
cladding materials.

### Shingles

Wood shingles or irregular cedar "shake" siding was used in early New England construction and revived in Shingle Style and Queen Anne style architecture in the late 19th century.

### Clapboards

Wood siding in overlapping horizontal rows or "courses" is called clapboard, weatherboard, or bevel siding, and is made with beveled boards, thin at the top edge and thick at the butt. In colonial North America, Eastern white pine was the most common material. Wood siding can also be made of naturally rot-resistant woods such as redwood or cedar.

### Drop siding

Jointed horizontal siding (also called "drop" siding or novelty siding) may be shiplapped or tongue and grooved
 (though less common). Drop siding comes in a wide variety of face
finishes, including Dutch Lap (also called German or Cove Lap) and log
siding (milled with curve).

### Vertical boards

Vertical siding may have a cover over the joint: board-and-batten, popular in American wooden Carpenter Gothic houses, or less commonly behind the joint called batten and board, or reverse board and batten.

### Wooden sheet siding.=

Plywood sheet siding is sometimes used on inexpensive buildings, sometimes with grooves to imitate vertical shiplap siding. One example of such grooved plywood siding is the type called Texture 1-11 *T1-11* or *T111* ("tee-one-eleven"). There is also a product known as reverse board-and-batten *RBB*
 that looks similar but has deeper grooves. Some of these products may
be thick enough and rated for structural applications if properly
fastened to studs. Both T-11 and RBB sheets are quick and easy to
install as long as they are installed with compatible flashing at butt
joints.

## Stone

Slate shingles may be simple in form but many buildings with slate siding are highly decorative.

## Metal

Metal siding comes in a variety of metals, styles, and colors. It is
most often associated with modern, industrial, and retro buildings.
Utilitarian buildings often use corrugated galvanized steel sheet siding or cladding, which often has a colored vinyl finish. Corrugated aluminum
 cladding is also common where a more durable finish is required, while
also being lightweight for easy shaping and installing making it a
popular metal siding choice.
Formerly, imitation wood clapboard was made of aluminum (aluminum siding). Aluminum siding is ideal for homes in coastal areas (with lots of
moisture and salt), since aluminum reacts with air to form aluminum
oxide, an extremely hard coating that seals the aluminum surface from
further degradation.

The first architectural application of aluminum was the mounting of a small grounding cap on the Washington Monument
 in 1884. Sheet-iron or steel clapboard siding units had been patented
in 1903, and Sears, Roebuck & Company had been offering embossed
steel siding in stone and brick patterns in their catalogues for several
 years by the 1930s. ALCOA began promoting the use of aluminum in
architecture by the 1920s when it produced ornamental spandrel panels
for the Cathedral of Learning
 and the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings in New York. The exterior
of the A.O. Smith Corporation Building in Milwaukee was clad entirely in
 aluminum by 1930, and 3'-square siding panels of Duralumin sheet from
ALCOA sheathed an experimental exhibit house for the Architectural
League of New York in 1931. Most architectural applications of aluminum
 in the 1930s were on a monumental scale, and it would be another six
years before it was put to use on residential construction.
In the first few years after World War II, manufacturers began
developing and widely distributing aluminum siding. Among them Indiana
businessman Frank Hoess was credited with the invention of the
configuration seen on modern aluminum siding. His experiments began in
1937 with steel siding in imitation of wooden clapboards. Other types of
 sheet metal and steel siding on the market at the time presented
problems with warping, creating openings through which water could
enter, introducing rust. Hoess remedied this problem through the use of a
 locking joint, which was formed by small flap at the top of each panel
that joined with a U-shaped flange on the lower edge of the previous
panel thus forming a watertight horizontal seam. After he had received a
 patent for his siding in 1939, Hoess produced a small housing
development of about forty-four houses covered in his clapboard-style
steel siding for blue-collar workers in Chicago. His operations were
curtailed when war plants commandeered the industry. In 1946 Hoess
allied with Metal Building Products of Detroit, a corporation that
promoted and sold Hoess siding of ALCOA aluminum. Their product was
used on large housing projects in the northeast and was purportedly the
siding of choice for a 1947 Pennsylvania development, the first
subdivision to solely use aluminum siding. Products such as 4", 6", 8"
and 10" X 12' unpainted aluminum panels, starter strips, corner pieces
and specialized application clips were assembled in the Indiana shop of
the Hoess brothers. Siding could be applied over conventional wooden
clapboards, or it could be nailed to studs via special clips affixed to
the top of each panel. Insulation was placed between each stud. While
the Hoess Brothers company continued to function for about twelve more
years after the dissolution of the Metal Building Products Corporation
in 1948, they were not as successful as rising siding companies like
Reynolds Metals.

## Masonry

Stone and masonry veneer is sometimes considered *siding*,
 are varied and can accommodate a variety of styles—from formal to
rustic. Though masonry can be painted or tinted to match many color
palettes, it is most suited to neutral earth tones, and coatings such as
 roughcast and pebbeldash.
 Masonry has excellent durability (over 100 years), and minimal
maintenance is required. The primary drawback to masonry siding is the
initial cost.

Precipitation can threaten the structure of buildings, so it is
important that the siding will be able to withstand the weather
conditions in the local region. For regions that receive a lot of rain, exterior insulation finishing systems (EIFS) have been known to suffer underlying wood rot problems with excessive moisture exposure.

The environmental impact of masonry depends on the type of
material used. In general, concrete and concrete based materials are
intensive energy materials to produce. However, the long durability and
minimal maintenance of masonry sidings mean that less energy is required
 over the life of the siding.

## See also

* Sod house
* Log building

## References

1. ↑ "Architectural Aluminum", Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
2. ↑ ("Hoess Aluminum Siding and Roofing", American Builder, October 1946)