What Is Siding, and What Options Are There?
This article was written and published by Ideal Siding.
Siding is an aspect of building your home by focusing on exterior design to give you a particular desired outside look. This outside look guarantees your home protection from many security threats and other things or elements that might intrude. Also important to note on home siding, is the beauty that it brings to you and your family as the residents. It is always the exterior of a house that that portrays its magnificence.
This is what most neighbors see and any other person who passes in the neighborhood. Some of the things to consider before choosing the siding of your home include the geographical situation. For example, if your home is in an open place, then it stands a threat of strong wind that can also interfere with the siding.
Other than geographical issues, it is also prudent enough to study and understand your habitat. There are so many insects and pests that can easily interfere with your home siding. Some include; ants, termites, insects that might feed on your home siding or turn it to be home, especially when it is made of wood.
Importance of home siding
- It protects your house from environmental elements such as insects, termites, ants, birds, bats by creating an unconducive breeding environment they might enjoy at your home.
- Siding also acts as exterior design by portraying out the beauty of your home. This builds a sense of pride as it can be seen as dazzling in the neighborhood.
- It protects the house from geographical elements such as strong winds, hailstone, heavy rainfall, tornados, and even fire that might cause damage to your home.
- Siding saves you extra finances that can be incurred when there is inadequate ventilation during winter as a result of using excess energy to maintain warm temperatures in the house, leading to skyrocketing bills.
As much as siding helps to protect the home, it also has some failures that you need to understand. For example, poor siding allows water to get in the house through openings like windows or bad roofs, and this might result in problems with the foundation and the growth of moulds on the walls.
It will protect your home when the materials used in the construction of your house contract and expand as a result of temperatures that keep on changing. It is used in a manner that passes the materials to be on top of the joints and covers them. It always turns disastrous when the bones are not well covered, for it allows rains, snow to access your home.
Types of sidings
There are various types of siding for you, depending on your area of interest, what you can afford, and the kind of beauty you want in your home. They include;
- Vinyl materials come in any form of colour, and it is one that stays longer. Its care and maintenance are more accessible and straightforward, like just washing to make it look new.
- Wooden siding also stays longer, and if you buy it, you will enjoy its more rustic look. Important to note is that they quickly rot and get destroyed and makes you spend a fortune doing repairs and replacements.
- Aluminum siding is not beautiful from the eyes, gets destroyed faster but is cheaper to acquire. It also wheedles money from you, especially by doing repairs and replacements now and again.
- Masonite was originally developed as an alternative to real wood, vinyl, and aluminum sidings. Made from a mixture of wood chips and resin, masonite has the look of real wood. It was originally believed to be lower maintenance than wood, but with better looks than either vinyl or aluminum. Masonite was intended to fill a gap for homeowners that dislike the look of vinyl but wanted something lower maintenance than wood.
- Green siding also fits you in your home exterior decorations. What is currently considered to be friendly to the environment being pocket-friendly is the use of fiber – cement. It is considered to be long-lasting and economically viable in terms of repairs and continuous maintenance that might wheedle finances from you.