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What is siding and why should I use it?
Home » Homebuilding » Housing Exterior » What is siding and why should I use it?Siding is used as an outer covering on houses. It is used to shed water away from the house and protect the house from the effects of weather.
Siding may be formed of horizontal boards, vertical boards, shingles, or sheet materials. In all four cases, avoiding wind and rain infiltration through the joints is a major challenge met by overlapping; by covering or sealing the joint; or by creating an interlocking joint such as a tongue-and-groove or rabbet.
Since building materials expand and contract with changing temperature and humidity, it is not practical to make rigid joints between the siding elements.
Siding is made of wood, metal, plastic or composite materials. Various composite materials are also used for siding: asphalt, asbestos, fiber cement, aluminum (ACM) etc. They may be in the form of shingles or boards, in which case they are sometimes called 'clapboard'.
The siding may be attached directly to the building structure (studs in the case of wood construction), or to an intermediate layer of horizontal planks called sheathing.
Siding is often made out of wood in overlapping horizontal rows or courses, called clapboard. In colonial times, Eastern white pine was the most common material. Wood siding can also be made of unpainted weather-resistant woods such as redwood.
Vertical horizontal siding can have a cover over the joint: board and batten. This is popular in American wooden Gothic revival houses.
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