Posts Tagged ‘solid wood’

» Siding on your Side

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

One of the major aesthetics of a new home or even an existing home is its exterior skin.  There are many different types including stone, brick, metal panels and wood siding.  We are going to concentrate on siding.

Siding comes in many different styles, materials and colors.  When building Green, it is important to understand what type of materials that can be consider environmentally friendly.  In general, wood siding is not considered a very green product because the most durable solid wood siding products are harvested from old-growth trees like cedar. Cutting down old growth trees is not a good idea.  So in liue of cutting down our forests there are other sidings that can be used.

An affordable and durable product is a fiber cement board.  This type of siding is made of cement and wood fibers.  It can come prefinished or it can be painted in the field during installation. 

Another siding to consider is either aluminum or steel.  Unfortunately these have high upfront costs to produce but on the other side they are made mainly of recycled materials.  It is a bit of a trade off.

Engineered wood can be considered but it needs to be FSC certified engineered wood like hardboard or OSB board and be formaldehyde – free.

So when thinking of siding consider the aesthetics, practicality, and sustainability of your choice.