Many choices for Siding Seattle

Which Siding Seattle?

Everyone knows Seattle and the Puget Sound Region can be a very wet environment The siding used for residential building and commercial building envelopes are of paramount importance to the longevity of the building There are many different Seattle siding styles, materials and systems that can be deployed successfully to give owners the look they want and the protection they need A good way to get a feel for the different siding products and systems is to tour the siding Seattle has to offer in its many architecturally diverse neighborhoods I will speak to some of the options available below This article will stick to traditional Seattle siding systems and will not go into the Seattle rain screen systems like those made by Ceraclad and other manufacturers.

Probably the most ubiquitous siding in the Seattle / Puget Sound Region is horizontal cedar bevel siding This is also known as clapboard siding Much of this Seattle siding is madefrom cedar Cedar is a great exterior wood product in that it is naturally resistant to rot and pests When sustainably harvested cedar can be a good green option Fiber cement siding is another popular Seattle horizontal siding product that has largely replaced the use of cedar over the last several years Some of the advantages of Fiber Cement plank siding are:? low cost, material is stable (not prone to cupping or warping like wood), accepts paint well and very durable Fiber cement siding is very popular for larger projects in that the durability of the material lends itself to lower commercial building maintenance.

Another wood Seattle siding material that is seen in our area is sidewall shingle siding Just as with the plank siding, there are material options for shingle siding Cedar? shingles are probably the most common There are different grades of wood shingles that can be used The grade of the shingles determines the cost, application and look of the siding Seattle Siding shingles can also be purchased as fiber cement shingles which has the same advantages I illuminated in the previous paragraph Probably the biggest reason to use? wood shingle siding is when you want the natural wood siding look and are using a stain rather than paint for your siding finish.

There are also several vertical siding options Board and batten siding and channel siding are classic vertical siding systems Board and batten consists of 8-11″ wide planks applied to the wall vertically with smaller (1.5″-3.5″) battens applied at the joints Channel siding is a milled wood product that is applied vertically on the wall Each piece overlaps the one before it and because of the profile milled into the cedar there is a vertical channel created There are fiber cement siding options for these systems as well.

This is by no means a complete list of Seattle siding options but some of the more traditional systems you’ll see while looking at siding in Seattle Some other materials that I will discuss in future posts are: EIFS, stucco, metal, fiber cement panels (ie: hardie panel) and whatever else catches my eye between now and then. Of course, all of these systems can be mixed and matched to create a rich exterior texture for any given building.