Exterior cladding is an essential component of any building’s structure. It not only provides protection from the elements but also adds to the aesthetic appeal of the building. With so many options available, choosing the right exterior cladding for your home can be overwhelming. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best exterior cladding options to consider for your own house.

What Is Exterior Cladding?

Exterior cladding refers to a layer of material that is attached to the exterior walls of a building to provide protection from the weather and enhance its aesthetic appeal. Cladding can be made from a variety of materials, including wood, metal, stone, brick, vinyl, and fiber cement.

The primary function of exterior cladding is to protect the building from the elements, including rain, wind, and temperature fluctuations. It also helps to regulate the temperature inside the building by providing insulation, which can help to reduce heating and cooling costs. In addition to its functional benefits, exterior cladding can also enhance the visual appeal of a building. Different cladding materials can be used to create a range of textures, colors, and patterns, allowing for a customized and unique look.

10 Best exterior cladding options

1. Brick wall cladding

One of the oldest exterior wall cladding systems, brick cladding merges an extraordinary finish with singular performance and structural benefits. Bricks are incombustible, thermally effective, durable, weather-resistant, low maintenance, and non-poisonous, and create great sound insulation.They are also sustainable and chiefly converted into new bricks, reused, or crushed for fill. Bricks are available in a wide choice of colors, sizes, finishes, and textures, improving design flexibility.

2. Timber cladding

Hardwood timber is growingly being selected as an exterior cladding material in both commercial and residential building sections. This external cladding usually made from natural hardwood merges the beauty of timbers with everlasting durability and bushfire resistance up to BAL 29.

This hardwood timber cladding is elastic to natural seismic movements, has ornamental and practical applications, and provides termite resistance. The surface covering with an external pigmented stain or paint is suggested to keep away from weathering. The long-term performance also depends on regular maintenance and recoating when needed. The cladding can be attached to a timber or steel framework.

3. Lightweight brick finish cladding: corium

Corium is a thin ventilated rainscreen facade system that can offer an astounding brick finish cladding on newly built multistory buildings as well as renovations. The Corium system is composed of specially produced brick tiles that mechanically clip into a galvanized steel or unmarked steel backing, with mortar added utilizing a pump

The Corium brick look cladding system provides design adaptability with a wide choice of colors and textures helping accomplish bespoke adorning patterns. Corium accelerates construction, saving both time and money compared to traditional brickwork. The lightweight cladding can be attached to different substrates such as concrete, timber frame, structural steel, lightweight steel frames, and masonry.

4. Fiber cement exterior cladding solutions

Fiber Cement cladding is a high-efficiency, low-maintenance external cladding system available in a diversity of cladding profiles.

Accepted by homeowners, designers, and constructors, this exterior cladding is the ideal option for making home exteriors beautiful and durable. Like a defensive layer or skin on the outside of a house, external cladding is great for offering weather resistance and protecting homes from severe natural elements.

Cladding and weatherboards are also selected to add personality and style to a range of home designs. Cladding is available in a large variety of styles and textures and can be painted in almost any color providing boundless design possibilities.

5. Aluminum architectural cladding: Alumate

When beauty, durability, weather resistance, and maintenance are significant factors for your exterior cladding along with thermal, sound, and fire performance, Alumate could just be your choice.

6. Hardwood fiberboard cladding: Weathertex

A timber cladding composed of Hardwood and natural wax that is designed with the claim of ‘better than zero carbon footprint, Weathertex’s timber cladding is manufactured for architects and constructors with green building goals. With zero chemical additives, the cladding can be utilized in both external and internal cladding cases.

7. Vinyl wall cladding: Duratuff select

Vinyl cladding is one of the most durable exterior cladding materials on the market – and also one of the most favored options. Duratuff Select is a new kind of timber-look vinyl wall cladding and vinyl weatherboards with realistic woodgrain textures.

8. Prefinished fiber cement panels: Barestone

With an extraordinary range of exterior prefinished fiber cement (or concrete cladding) panels, Barestone is distinctive for its remarkable raw cement finish.

Composed of cement, sand, cellulose fiber, and water, Barestone weathers naturally, letting its organic finish gently mix into the environment. The fine, yet beautiful stone finish is great for making a refined contrast in any contemporary or traditional design method.

9. Natural stone cladding: Bellstone

Natural stone cladding is available in sandstone, bluestone, slate, and quartzite diversities. Exterior wall cladding in natural stone is great for feature walls, pool areas, retaining walls, stairwells, and fireplaces along with around columns and fountains.

Select a natural stone that harmoniously matches your setting. High-density stones will attract less water, and decelerate discoloration. Natural stone cladding in darker shades is easier to protect as the dirt won’t be visible easily. However, lighter colors will require frequent wash-downs to stop staining.

Natural stone or tile cladding is precious for modern homes with its influential appeal. Natural stone is also very endurable, acts as a great insulator, have resilience against severe weather, resists fire, resists abrasions and scratches, and can be easily sustained.

However, natural stone can be more exorbitant than other wall cladding products and need a large amount of work during installation. Natural stone cladding also needs a structural substrate for stability.

10. Metal cladding: COLORBOND cladding

A high-efficiency cladding material, COLORBOND cladding steel has shown its worth many times over on building facades as well as internal feature walls. With a choice of 22 standard colors and 5 matt shades, COLORBOND cladding remarkably increase design opportunities.

The steel cladding also provides several performance advantages such as a long lifetime, resistance to chipping, flaking, and blistering, fireproof, simple maintenance, and lightweight.

Conclusion

Exterior cladding is the covering of the house: it is the external layer that helps to protect it against fire, weather, and other threatening elements. Exterior cladding is available in different formats and materials.