Engineered siding is one of the most successful business concepts of the 20th century. The original idea was to take basic building materials and combine them in a way that made it less expensive for them to be produced, easier to supply, and strong enough to last as long as natural materials. The idea eventually evolved to encompass completely new materials as part of the category.
From Wood to Composites
As America’s forests became more and more protected over the course of the 20th century, natural wood became more expensive as a siding material. Finding a way to blend wood with cheaper materials became a priority for several companies. After early successes taking wood fibers and blending them with other materials, many contractors began to opt for engineered siding when they were building homes. There were a couple of problems with product recalls that affected a large number of homeowners, but the overall science continued advancing so that today, it is a very desirable siding. In fact, one of the leading engineered sidings on the market took almost 10 years to develop in the laboratory before it was released on the market. Most of the engineered siding that is wood is created by blending wood fibers with composites that strengthen the bonds and make the end product lighter, yet just as strong as wood.
Fiber Cement: A Market Leader
A lot of inventions come about, because of a lack of resources. In many ways, during the past couple of decades, fiber cement siding became popular, because it was pest resistant and available in much larger quantities than wood, according to Bob Villa. Introduced some time ago, it really started selling well once an Australian firm created a formula that worked. Ever since then, it has been an engineering siding that frequently leads the market in use on North American homes.
Vinyl, The Other Engineered Siding
Although vinyl siding brings back an era where oil was king and plastics were the wave of the future, people who have inspected homes that were clad in vinyl siding in the 1960’s are amazed that in many cases, the siding looks as good today as it did then. In addition, if you peel the siding away, you will often find that the original wood siding that it was layered over is in pristine condition. So although vinyl siding has had a lot of style detractors over the years, functionally, it is one of the best engineered siding materials that you could work with. The manufacturing process is similar to that for vinyl window frames. A layer of vinyl is laid down that provides the bulk of the siding’s thickness. This layer is then covered by another layer of special vinyl composite that has been treated so that it will resist aging.
Related Resource: Cost-Effective Siding
Overall, engineered siding has come into its own as being much more renewable that natural wood products. Engineered siding will also often last longer than homes that are clad in natural materials.
