Weatherboard cladding has long been associated with Australian home design ever since the Europeans settled on the continent. They adorn classic Australian beach shacks, the large Queenslanders, and the workers’ cottages.
One appeal that a Weatherboard Homes Toowoomba has is the fact that many of the materials available and used these days on contemporary homes need little or no maintenance.
In addition to its being aesthetically pleasing to use in your home, weatherboard cladding
also protects the exterior walls of your property against potential damage caused by rain, snow, wind or hail.
Further, it also has insulative properties, helping to keep the warmth in and your heating bills down.
External cladding
Weatherboarding is one form of external cladding. By tradition, weatherboarding, is made from timber. These days, there are now other materials used and became popular like the PVC and fiber cement.
Also, there are now various other types of profile and finish, depending on the aesthetic requirements.The appeal is further enhanced by the many benefits it provides. For one, house cladding is easy to look after. It has an expected life span of 50 years or even more.
Not only does it possess a natural timeless beauty and elegance, it is resistant to many things that are the bane of houses made of other materials. These are pests, he warping and the rotting.
Vinyl
Today, vinyl is used to make weatherboards because it is light, UV-resistant and durable. This type of weatherboard is used extensively throughout the USA and is generally imported into Australia.
An added bonus is that vinyl weatherboards are colored throughout and does not need any paint job or much additional maintenance.
As of December 2023, weatherboard cladding costs around $3.20 to $6.85 per linear meter. For timber cladding, the price hovers between $3.25 to $11.75 per linear meter.The aluminum cladding costs around $14 per square meter while the vinyl cladding is $30 to $100 per square meter.
Weatherboard
The term is used only in Australia and New Zealand. The material is the wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, mostly overlapping. (Americans call it “clapboard”).
Weatherboardis traditionally made from timber and appeared in the 1850s, and are historically made of split oak, pine, and spruce. Nowadays, weatherboards have been either tarred or painted, traditionally black or white due to locally occurring minerals or pigments.
In more recent times, In modern weatherboard products, these colors have remained popular, but are now issued with a wider variety due to chemical pigments and stains
Classic style
These days, the weatherboard (called “clapboard” in other places) style is still found in many parts of the British Isles. The style is seen in many forms of traditional buildings, such as cottages, windmills, workshops and more.
Weatherboard made of timber has been a defining feature of the Australian housing landscape since the late 19th century. Today, these historic homes are still found in suburbs throughout the country. Their classic and timeless look still giving that certain charm to the streets they adorn.
In New Zealand, weatherboard housing dominated many buildings constructed before 1960. When paired with a corrugated iron roof, it was found to be a cost-effective building style.
After the earthquakes between 1855 and 1951, wooden buildings were perceived to be less vulnerable to damage.
New styles
For people who want to replicate the buildings in new builds, developments in technology have introduced a whole new range of weatherboard style products to the construction industry.
These include vinyl, aluminum, fiber cement, and a range of other man-made materials.
In fact, there is a weatherboard product for just about every project.
They also come in many forms. They can emulate a traditional wood grain look, rebated edges to create shadow lines, or slender, beaded edge weatherboard with a strong lap line.
Today, weatherboard has two main types.
Classic
The classic weatherboard has a wedge profile that is overlapped to create the weatherproof cladding.The wedge shape is simple to cut from raw timber and allows the boards to be overlapped without progressively adding to the thickness of the wall.
The wedge-shaped weatherboard is the traditional form of cladding used all over Australia because it is easy to manufacture.
The installation of this classic material begins at the base of the wall and moves upward, with each subsequent board overlapping the previous. The nails are driven through both the thin end of the board underneath and then hidden by the board which is installed over.
Because of their wedge shape, classic weatherboards cannot be easily mitered or joined, and they do present detailing challenge. Usually, the termination of this type of weatherboard is handled with a corner piece or elements such as window or door frames.
Shiplap
This style has a more complex tongue-and-groove shape that allows for the installation of
of a flat, weatherproof cladding. Shiplap boards are flat planks with the tongue and groove components of the board.
They are cut in a way that lets a thin reveal to maintain the horizontal banding that is so important to the appearance of weatherboards.
The installation of shiplap weatherboards starts at the bottom of the wall and works upwards. Nails are driven through the tongue of each board before the upper board is slotted into place.
The tongue-and-groove system will normally be designed so that the upper board covers the nails of the lower board, ensuring the nail board are concealed and protected.
Board materials
Weatherboards are a wonderfully durable cladding material that allows us to tie our buildings into our own special architectural heritage.
All of these characteristics happens while maintaining the smooth horizontal lines that are a hallmark of contemporary design. Traditionally, weatherboards were cut from locally available timber., but Today, there are choices thheadvances in building materials have also meant that weatherboards are now available in a variety of materials.
There is no combination of shapes and materials that is clearly better than the rest.Even though weatherboards are available in an almost endless combination of shapes and materials, each type of weatherboard has its advantages and disadvantages. Chose the best for your project.
