What do you
know about wall siding?
Wall siding
or cladding is one of the architectural procedures which is being used since
long history and not a new innovation of the modern architecture. The process
of siding or cladding is merely to use a certain type of material over another
main one to protect it from the rigid weather conditions such as humidity ,
rain water , sunlight effect and winds. So let’s agree that wall siding works
as a protective shell of what is laying behind it. When it comes to decoration
also nowadays cladding materials play a vital role in enhancing the aesthetic
value of the building’s facades. Interesting topic isn’t it ? Let’s dive more
and more to know more about cladding.
Since long
history our ancient ancestors have realized the importance of cladding in
insulating their residential houses from the external factors which may affect
negatively their building ceilings and walls. Not only to protect the building
itself but also to accommodate their living inside these buildings. Ancient
Egyptians has used the stems of palm trees and water plants reed to build their
ceilings and over it they used as a cladding mud to insulate what is under from
the direct effect of sun. Till now Egyptians use the same technique with some
modifications as they will use iron bars horizontally and they weave over it
the stems of corn on the cop or the branches of palm tress then over they will
use sheets of plastic and over they will put mud as a cladding to the ceiling.
Concerning walls they have sided it with a mixture of farm animals solid waste,
mud and some straw after being fermented under sun. That kind of siding will be
over mud bricks too. However it has served so well in the hot weather of summer
in Egypt and cold weather of winter. Till now in desert oasis such kind of
cladding is widespread. In Nubian old and modern villages in Aswan , Egypt they
are using that type of cladding but with a kind of decoration that suits the
nature of Nubians who likes to beautify their houses. They have painted and
stained over such mud cladding by colorful natural paints and have drawn animals
and plants from their environment.
Cladding was
not used in the past in protecting walls or ceilings of houses but it has been
widely used in protecting other objects such as bread from being infected with fungous or to be
dried quickly by putting it between a kind of fresh grass or inside wool
clothes. Water too was kept inside bottles surrounded with wet linen cloth to
conserve its temperature in hot weather.
Nowadays
there are many types of cladding (siding). Every type has its disadvantages and
drawbacks. But surely we’d like to choose the best which its benefits will
conquer its demerits. There is wood cladding in two styles either as shingles
or as clapboard. By shingles we mean that the small flat boards of wood will be
cladded horizontally to cover all the targeted area then you can decorate it or
let’s say insulate it by special kinds of paints. The other style is clapboard
and it simply means to order the wood boards over each other so that its thickness
will increase one under the other so the last scene will be one edge of the
wall thinner the other. Such kind of cladding is good for its beautiful
decoration which it adds to the wall but its life-cycle not so long. It is
considered as biodegradable material so it is environment friendly by its
effect with fire and some wood eater insects such as ants and termites is one
of its drawbacks. Also it is not cos-effective when it comes to the full buying
price.
Metal
cladding also is one of the new innovated methods of cladding which is suitable
to commercial and industrial buildings more than to residential houses. And
comes in the list of types of cladding the masonry cladding by using stones and
though it is so resistant to rigid weather effects but in terms of money and
costs it is not recommended so much for low budget customers. The science has
interfered as always for the prosperity of man by inventing new composite
materials and synthetic ones that mostly are the best choice for its low costs
in buying and after buying maintenance. There is from that type fiber cement
siding , polyurethane siding , and polystyrene.
Actually the
best of all what I have mentioned which has won my choice and other people choice
is the extended polystyrene wall claddings. They are light weight and robust
synthetic material. The insulation boards of EPS are now covered with an
acrylic layer that will bear the impacts and the external weather conditions.
Also financially they are cost-effective; their prices in m2 are low and after
sale maintenance not needed so much as their life cycle you can say it will be
the same as your building age. Polystyrene itself as a material is having high
value of insulating noise and temperature.
In terms of
decoration and beauty they are formed in many patterns that is same like these
of the natural materials. For instance they have the design of clapboard to
keep the rain water away from the walls, they have patterns of wood , bricks ,
stones or marbles. Oh you said marbles and stones and bricks or even wood! Yes,
they are to the degree till you can’t differentiate them from the real natural
materials which they are resembling. So you can insulate your walls from inside
or outside and add to them beautiful value that reflects your sense of art.
I advise you
if you are searching for thermal insulation of your walls and decoration at the
same time from such beautiful synthetic material EPS you can visit izoyapi
company site www.izoyapi.com.tr
or you can have a look at their beautiful catalogue http://www.izopiyer.com.tr/katalog-2018.pdf
to get an idea about how technology and science have improved our old
techniques of the past and how these new products are miming the same designs of materials which
are expensive for some us to buy or hard to install. Notice that these EPS
claddings don’t include any toxic materials inside them so they are environment
friendly.