What do you know about wall siding?

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.