Siding "under brick" and "stone" - varieties, characteristics, installation features
Houses built from natural stone or bricks, have always been considered more solid, durable and prestigious than buildings from cinder blocks, wood or sandwich panels... Naturally, the cost of material and work for the construction and decoration of a brick or stone house is very high. In addition, one should take into account the increase in time spent on the construction of such a capital structure, the need to create more durable and expensive foundation, the need for additional insulation and other factors. An alternative to this construction method is the use of brick and stone siding.
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Varieties of siding "brick" and "stone"
Siding "brick" and "stone" is made of various materials with different performance characteristics. At the same time, the similarity of the imitation of the texture and color of the product depends solely on the quality of the product and the technologies used by the manufacturer. Siding "brick" and "stone" can be made of the following materials:
Polymeric
Presented by materials of two types: vinyl and acrylic:
Metal
Metal siding is usually made of galvanized steel, rarely aluminum. It has an external protective and decorative polymer film coating. Differs in high strength and resistance to external mechanical stress. Expensive products from leading manufacturers quite accurately repeat the external shape and surface structure of natural materials or bricks. The budget options have no relief, and the texture on them is imitated by an external pattern. The material is not subject to thermal deformation, is relatively lightweight and does not require reinforced lathing. It is implemented in the form of long elements. Needs trimming during installation. In this case, you should pay attention to the protection of the cut points from corrosion.
Fiber cement
Fiber cement consists of high quality cement, fine sand and microfiber as a reinforcing material. In terms of its technical characteristics, it most closely resembles natural stone. Panel thickness, depending on the manufacturer, is from 10 to 15 mm. Weight - 15-20 kg / m². The material is the heaviest of all siding types. It requires the arrangement of a reinforced crate. Possesses high performance characteristics:
Basement
Ground siding is used for cladding foundations and basement floors of the building... It is exposed to more intense mechanical stress. In addition, it is strongly influenced by various mineral and chemical substances dissolved in groundwater. As a rule, it is made of polymers and fiber-reinforced concrete, therefore it has similar advantages and disadvantages.It must be allocated in a separate category, since the thickness of the elements is significantly increased to withstand mechanical stress.
Video: what is brick siding

Selection features
The choice of "brick" or "stone" siding is based on the analysis of the following main criteria.

Metal and wooden battens for attaching siding are very similar in appearance, but differ greatly in their bearing capacity
Decorating can be done in several ways:
- Application to the surface - such a decorative coating can be easily damaged, after which the finishing element needs to be replaced;
- Dyeing in bulk - pigments are added to the raw materials during the production process and the color of the siding is the same throughout its thickness.
Advantages and disadvantages
Regardless of the material of manufacture, the following factors can be attributed to the advantages of "brick" or "natural stone" siding:
Of the disadvantages of brick and stone siding, it should be noted:

Some budget models of metal finishing panels have an extremely presentable look, especially when facing large areas
Leading manufacturers and characteristics of their products
There are many domestic and foreign manufacturers of siding imitating stone or brick. Usually these ventures are joint ventures.Their products are not inferior in quality to European ones. The cost of domestic products can be 15-20% lower.
Nailite International in 2009 renamed to Exteria Building Products (USA)
Produces vinyl panels in large format 0.47 × 1.13 m. Among the main differences of the product: painting in bulk, expressive relief of seams and front surface. Among the most popular collections in Russia are the following:
ROYAL EUROPA
Polish-Canadian company producing vinyl siding used for wall and plinth finishing. It is a subsidiary of Royal Building Products - the largest manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride building materials. It is produced in two versions: “under the stone” - 0.51 × 1.265 m, “under the brick” - 0.395 × 1.14 m. The color range is limited to white and red shades. The main difference is the color highlighting of the masonry joints.
KMEW (Japan)
KMEW is one of the leaders in the Asian market for the production of fiber cement panels. The finishing material is covered with several layers of protective substances, after which a protective ceramic coating is applied, imitating the texture of natural materials. It is positioned as an elite finishing material with unique performance characteristics, durability and strength. The company offers over 30 collections of stone and brick siding with various textures:
Each of the collections has a wide range of colors.
Konoshima Chemical Co., Ltd (Japan)
The company produces facade and basement panels made of fiber cement, imitating stone and brick. The main difference of this product is the use of nanoceramic spraying, which gives the finishing coating additional resistance to abrasion, scratches and other mechanical damage. Konoshima siding has improved sound insulation characteristics.
Wandstein (Russian-German enterprise)
Manufactures PVC facade and basement panels. Products are of high quality and dimensional accuracy. Thanks to special additives, the coefficient of linear thermal expansion is significantly reduced (ZugFest technology). The technology of repeated dyeing and high-quality BRILLUX dyes are used, which guarantees a rich color and prevents fading in the sun.
Alta Plastic
Produces PVC building and finishing materials, including basement and facade siding. The most popular collections are:
Features of installation work
Laying siding requires some skill. However, with strict adherence to the instructions provided by the manufacturer, it is quite possible to do it yourself. No specialized and expensive installation tools are required. Without fail you need: screwdriver, level, for metal siding - scissors for metal. The installation process includes the following steps:
- Substrate surface preparation. Typically, siding is used in ventilated facades to protect thermal insulation. Therefore, the surface of the walls is mostly flat.If a significant excavation is required, defects are filled with a repair mortar.
- Installation of battens. The material used is wooden blocks or profiles for drywall... Bearing elements are installed vertically, with a step corresponding to the dimensions of the finishing panels.
- Installation insulation, hydro and wind insulation;
- Installation of a counter-lattice, which is a clamping strips with a thickness of 1.5-2 cm, installed over the supporting bar to fix the waterproofing membrane.
- Installation of the starting bar. The quality of the entire finish depends on how correctly the starting bar is set in level. Therefore, you should be especially careful when installing it.
- Decoration of window openings - corner strips of window frames are installed.
- Installation of panels. Panel fastening starts from the corner of the wall. Panels of the first row are cut at right angles and tucked into corner profiles. The first panel of the next row is cut in half so that the siding elements are installed with offset vertical seams.
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Calculator for calculating the amount and cost of siding per home
Video: installation of facade panels

Image gallery
Facades of houses with various types of siding finishes:
Summing up
The market for building and finishing materials provides many varieties of siding for every taste in a wide range of prices. Budget-type products have a rather low aesthetic value. They are recommended to be used exclusively as protection of thermal insulation materials for technical structures. For finishing the facades of residential buildings, it is more advisable to use premium siding, which will not only protect building structures and insulation from the negative influence of external factors, but will also become a real decoration of the house.