siding, for the side of a
barn Metal siding comes in a variety of metals, styles, and colors. It is most often associated with modern, industrial, and retro buildings. Utilitarian buildings often use corrugated
galvanized steel sheet siding or cladding, which often has a coloured vinyl finish. Corrugated
aluminum cladding is also common where a more durable finish is required, while also being lightweight for easy shaping and installing making it a popular metal siding choice. Formerly, imitation wood clapboard was made of aluminum (aluminum siding). That role is typically played by vinyl siding today. Aluminum siding is ideal for homes in coastal areas with much moisture and salt, since aluminum reacts with air to form aluminum oxide, an extremely hard coating that seals the aluminum surface from further degradation. In contrast, steel forms
rust, which can weaken the structure of the material, and corrosion-resistant coatings for steel, such as zinc, sometimes fail around the edges as years pass. However, an advantage of steel siding can be its dent-resistance, which is excellent for regions with severe storms—especially if the area is prone to
hail. The first architectural application of aluminum was the mounting of a small grounding cap on the
Washington Monument in 1884. Sheet-iron or steel clapboard siding units had been patented in 1903, and
Sears, Roebuck & Company had been offering embossed steel siding in stone and brick patterns in their catalogues for several years by the 1930s.
Alcoa began promoting the use of aluminum in architecture by the 1920s when it produced ornamental spandrel panels for the
Cathedral of Learning and the
Chrysler and
Empire State Buildings in New York. The exterior of the
A.O. Smith Corporation Building in
Milwaukee was clad entirely in aluminum by 1930, and siding panels of Duralumin sheet from Alcoa sheathed an experimental exhibit house for the
Architectural League of New York in 1931. Most architectural applications of aluminum in the 1930s were on a monumental scale, and it was another six years before it was put to use on residential construction. In the first few years after World War II, manufacturers began developing and widely distributing aluminum siding. Among them Indiana businessman Frank Hoess was credited with the invention of the configuration seen on modern aluminum siding. His experiments began in 1937 with steel siding in imitation of wooden clapboards. Other types of sheet metal and steel siding on the market at the time presented problems with warping, creating openings through which water could enter, introducing rust. Hoess remedied this problem through the use of a locking joint, which was formed by small flap at the top of each panel that joined with a U-shaped flange on the lower edge of the previous panel thus forming a watertight horizontal seam. After he had received a patent for his siding in 1939, Hoess produced a small housing development of about forty-four houses covered in his clapboard-style steel siding for blue-collar workers in Chicago. His operations were curtailed when war plants commandeered the industry. In 1946 Hoess allied with Metal Building Products of Detroit, a corporation that promoted and sold Hoess siding of Alcoa aluminum. Their product was used on large housing projects in the northeast and was purportedly the siding of choice for a 1947 Pennsylvania development, the first subdivision to solely use aluminum siding. Products such as by unpainted aluminum panels, starter strips, corner pieces and specialized application clips were assembled in the Indiana shop of the Hoess brothers. Siding could be applied over conventional wooden clapboards, or it could be nailed to studs via special clips affixed to the top of each panel. Insulation was placed between studs. While the Hoess Brothers company continued to function for about twelve more years after the dissolution of the Metal Building Products Corporation in 1948, they were less successful than rising siding companies like Reynolds Metals. ==Thatch siding==