The Ultimate Guide for Outside Wall Materials for Your House

Choosing materials for your dream home can be overwhelming. The outside walls of your home will be the first things you and others will see when approaching your house, so you want to make sure you select the best ones for you.

There are so many options available you’re probably not sure where to start. Below we’ll discuss by material type the various options available for the exterior of your new house.

Cement Board

Cement board, also known as fiber cement board or cement fiber board, is a durable material made of portland cement, sand, water, and a fiberous material such as cellulose. It’s non-combustable, moisture and rot resistant, performs well in a wide range of climates, and is resistant to pests such as termites and woodpeckers.

Cement board can be used in similar fashion as thin wood boards and can be prefinished in a variety of colors or can be painted on site. However, the material is heavier than wood which can sometimes increase labor costs. It creates silaca dust when cut with traditional methods, often requiring dust control measures. Some of the thinner fiber cement material might require additional shimming during installation.

A variety of product types are available, including:

• Panels: Large size sheets typically ranging in size from 4′ x 8′ up to 4′ x 10′ can be used as a finish material for the outside of your home. Various surface textures and patterns are available.
• Siding: Narrow and long boards (planks) can replicate the look of traditional wood siding, either horizontally in an overlapped fashion or vertically with the use of vertical batten strips covering the joints where the boards meet. These can have a smooth surface or a wood grain texture.
• Shingles: Cement board shingle siding is available that can mimic the look of wood shingles. They are available in a variety of shingel sizes so you can use one size or mix it up with different sizes.
• Soffit Panels: These long and wide sheets can be placed underneath the roof eave. Some are available with pre-drilled ventilation holes at the eave edge.
• Trim: Long narrow pieces are available in a variety of lengths and widths for trimwork around windows, doors, and at wall corners.

Cement board has become a very popular material due to its performance and durability compared to many of the other materials.

Concrete

Concrete can be used for more than foundations. It can poured into forms for dramatic walls, can have integral colors using specialty sands and additives in the concrete mixture, and can have a variety of textures. It can be used in a variety of ways as an architectural finish material, including:

• Formed Walls: Concrete can be formed as walls that can be left exposed as a design choice. Such walls should be carefully created to get an archictural finish, often using specilized liners inserted into the formwork. These liners can allow for a very smooth finish, wood grain finishes, heavily textured finishes, ribbed finishes, or unique patterns.
• Blocks: Concrete can also be formed into masonry blocks, called concrete masonry units (CMU), that can be stacked to build walls. These blocks are larger than bricks, have two or more large cavities for lighter weight, and tend to be purely functional with a gray, somewhat smooth surface. Other colors are available using different additives to the mix, but are often just painted with a breathable paint finish. It can be used as a structural wall by grouting the open cells of the unit with rebar added for strenght.
• Decorative CMU: This type of block can have a variety of texures and finishes that are used as an architectural finish. One type is a screen block, where the block is formed with decorative openings through the block such that a screen wall can be created. Next is glazed blocks, which have a ceramic finish that is available in a wide array of colors giving a finished tile look. However, glazed blocks are more typically used for schools and other institutional projects, but could be used for houses with an appropriate aesthetic style and block size.

Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC)

GFRC is used to mimic the look of stone with a lighter-weight durable material. GFRC can be molded to pretty much any profile, and can be used for wall panels, columns, balustrades (railings) crown moulding, sills, window and door surrounds, etc.

GFRC is durable, non-combustable, insect repellant, and weather resistant. It’s more cost effective than comparable stone material. GFRC can be created in many colors that will be inherent to the material and long-lasting.

Glazing (Glass)

Glass can be used as more than just part of a window in a wall. Glass can be used to create walls. Below are the two primary means of using glass this way:

• Glass Block: Glass can be formed into small blocks which can be used as a translucent opening in a wall or stacked to act as walls themselves. These blocks are formed as two molded 3-dimensional pieces fused together creating a cavity between each surface. The blocks can be formed with a variety of textures and different levels of translucancy. These textures and traslucenty can be used to build a uniform wall or a wall with a mixture of differnt block types.
• Glass Wall/Window Wall: Glass can act as a wall of your house. Full height sheets of glass are available, floor-to-ceiling windows, and you can also stack individual window units to create a window wall.

Masonry

Masonry consist of individual units that are stacked together to create a wall or building. These units include brick and block, and can also include stone which is discussed later in the article.

Masonry can be used for structural walls, fenestration (non-structural brick applied to an exterior wall), screen walls, and stonework. Let’s take a look at some of these components.

• Adobe: Adobe is a type of masonry built using hand-formed brick made of muds or clays mixed with water and dried grasses (straw) that are then dried in the sun. Though not a typical material today, it’s been used for millennia, especially in dry climates. Once built, an adobe wall is covered in a mud plaster to protect from moisture. There has been an increasing interest in adobe as an eco-friendly construction method.
• Block: Masonry blocks are larger rectangular units that are stacked together using mortar as a bonding material. Block are larger than brick, typically requiring two hands to lift into place. Blocks are typically made of concrete as discussed earlier, but can be formed of other materials such as terra cotta clay. Blocks are available in a variety of sizes, and can be formed with various textures and colors.
• Brick: Brick are smaller rectangular units that are stacked together using mortar as a bonding material. Brick is typically sized such that it takes only one hand to lift into place. Brick is made from a variety of available clays that are extruded, cut, and then fired in a kiln, and are available in a wide array of colors, sizes, and textures. Brick can be stacked to create a wide variety of patterns. Clay brick can also be glazed on one side to create a water-impervious surface with a sheen. However, other material such as concrete, fly ash, and sand lime can be used to form brick. Glass can also be produced as a brick unit (see Glazing section above).
• Terra Cotta: Terra Cotta is formed of refined red clay but is less dense and more fragile than brick. Unglazed terra cotta has a recognizable orange color. Clay tile can be used similarly to brick. Historically, its been used as an infill material within a concrete frame that’s then covered in either plaster or brick. However, it’s also been used as a finished material on a building, usually with a fired glaze available in a variety of colors and formed into a broad range of individual block designs. Terra cotta has had a resurgance of interest as an architectural finish material as manufacturing processes have improved its performance.

Metals

Metals are made of natural ores that, when processed into a material, are malleable, lustrous, and can conduct electricity. Metals used in architecture are primarily steel and aluminum but can also include more decorative materials such as brass, bronze, chrome, copper, nickle, and stainless steel. Metals are often used for architectural finishes such as:

• Doors: Metals can be used to create doors that can range from simple and plain to highly detailed and decorative entry doors. Decorative metal doors are typically made of copper or bronze and are often custom made at a large expense.
• Door and Window Frames: Metal is often used for door frames and window frames. However, these are more common in commercial applications. However, steel-framed windows and glazed steel doors have been popular with homes in the past and have seen a resurgance in popularity due to the slim profiles available with the metal.
• Panels: Metal panels are available that can be applied as a finish siding material to the exterior of a home. Panels come in a variety of sizes and finishes, and the metal materials are discussed in the next section of this article.
• Siding (horizontal): Metal siding typically consists of narrow and long strips of material applied horizontally and overlapped, creating the look of traditional wood siding. Again, this will be discussed in the next section of this article.

Siding

Siding is the use of thin light-weight material pieces that are combined together to create the exterior finishes of your home. The most traditional siding is wood clapboard siding, which uses horizontal boards that overlap each other giving the home exterior a horizontal banded aesthetic. However, there are numerous methods of applying siding.

Siding comes in three basic component types:

• Boards: These are long and narrow strips that are typicallay placed horizontally and overlapped for water drainage.
• Panels: These are large sheets of material, such as 4′ x 8′ in size plus additional available sizes, that can be placed either horizontally or vertically.
• Shingles: These are smaller pieces of uniform or varying widths that are placed next to each other in horizontal bands, with each band overlapping the next lower band. The pieces on one band are offset horizontally from the band below it. This patterning allows for the shedding of water without moisture infiltrating behind the material.

Below we’ll discuss the materials that are available as siding.

Aluminum

Aluminum is a durable and impact resistant material that holds up well in the weather. It’s non-combustable, insect resistant, and low maintenance. It won’t rust and is also waterproof. However, it is prone to expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, can be noisy if struck by hail, and can be dented. Thinner aluminum is prone to “oil canning”, a condition where the panel ends up with an undezirable non-uniform wavyness.

Horizontal aluminum siding boards was an early alternative to wood siding, but it’s not as common a siding material as in decades.

Copper

Copper is a beautiful and very durable material for exterior applications, however, it’s not used much due to its high cost. It can be used without having to be painted allowing for its deep orange-brown color and lustrous finish to be maintained.

Historically, copper would create an inherent coating over time called ‘patina’ due to the material’s interaction with the air. This patina would turn the copper into a recognizable greenish blue over the years. However, this effect happens less often and much more slowly today due to better air quality, leading many manufacturers to create a patina finish when creating the material.

Copper is typically used for gutters and downspouts but can be used for eaves and soffits and as a siding material.

Fiber Cement (Cement Board)

Cement board is a durable material that’s non-cumbustable and resistant to rot and insects. It’s a good substitute material for traditional wood. It’s discussed further in an earlier section of this article.

Steel

Steel has similar characteristics to aluminum, but is prone to rusting if exposed to water. This is why steel is almost always coated in a protective paint finish. It’s stronger than aluminum and therefore won’t dent as easily.

There are unique sets of steel alloys that are weather risistant, called ‘cor-ten’ steel or weathering steel. This steel forms its own protective rust coating when exposed to weather, turning the steel into a durable rust-colored material. However, it’s rarely used for residential applications due to its custom nature and it’s not being a readily available material.

Vinyl

Vinyl is likely the most common siding used on homes today due to its lower cost. Vinyl is durable, low-maintanence, non-combustable, flexible, and insect resistant. However, it can be prone to issues relating to temperature and sun exposure, primarily cracking due to thermal expansion and contraction, warping and buckling when exposed to direct sun, and brittleness over time which can lead to impact damage. These conditions might lead to a shorter lifespan for the installation than more durable materials.

Vinyl siding typically has a bit of a wood-grain finish to help the material look better than it is.

Vinyl siding often has a “suburban tract house” vibe to it due to its overuse in large-scale housing developments. It’s often the material used at the back of the house when nicer materials such as brick are used on the front of the house. Large walls of vinyl siding with only a few windows creates a dull aesthetic for the design. But, when used in a well-designed home, vinyl siding can be a viable aesthetic option.

Wood

Wood is a material that’s been used for siding for centuries. Wood has an inherent quality that’s very appealing, which is why man-made siding materials typically try to mimic the look of wood. Wood can be long-lasting if maintained well. However, the need for maintanence is one of its drawbacks.

Wood is typically used as siding boards, shingle siding, and as trim at eaves, soffits, windows and doors. Profiled boards or panels, typically called ‘bead board’ are often used as decorative ceiling elements at porches, and wood planks are often used for porch flooring. Larger sheets of exterior-grade playwood can be finished to perform as a siding material.

Wood is cumbustable and it’s prone to rot and insect damage if not installed and maintained properly. Though there are durable woods that are available for siding such as cedar and redwood, most wood must be painted when installed and re-painted every so often.

Stone

Stone is a material that’s been used for building exteriors since anceint times. The inherent beauty of stone is unmachted. There’s a plethora of stone options and each piece of stone will be unique due to its being a natural product.

Stone is strong, durable, non-cumbustable, insect resistant, and usable in all climates. However, stone is one of the more expensive materials to use due to being quarried as large blocks, cut to smaller bloks or slabs, then transported over significant distances, sometimes across the world. It then has to be further cut and finished locally prior to delivery to the project. It’s then a labor-intensive material to install.

Stone can be provided in a variety of ways:

• Blocks: These are sizable 3-dimensional pieces of stone that haven’t been cut into thin slabs. These are typically applied to create a stacked-stone effect with fully mortared joints or as detail elements such as base pieces on walls, horizontal cornices, and other decorative stone.
• Fieldstone: This stone is found loose at the ground. Historically, farmers would remove this stone from their fields in order to have more productive farmland. This stone could then be used to build walls between fields or used to build houses or barns. Fieldstone can be anything from loose rock similar to riverstone to flat slab-like stone with rough edges. This type of stone gives a “rustic” appearance to a building due to all the pieces being different shapes and sizes.
• Rocks/River Rock: These stone rocks typically come from riverbeds or rocky beaches where natural stone has cleaved from a cliff and then been smoothed out over time by the force of water in streams, rivers, and the ocean. These rounded stone can be stacked and mortared together to create rustic walls.
• Slabs: These are large but relatively thin pieces of material cut to size. Large slabs are typically only used for walls or floors. Smaller cut pieces can be used as a wall covering or as paving.
• Cut Stone: Cut stone is any stone that’s been cut from larger blocks or slabs. Cut stone can be of any reasonable size and can often be sculpted into complex architectural profiles or artistic forms.
• Veneer Stone – Stackable: This consists of stone pieces that are sized and used similar to bricks. These are stacked as a veneer, but instead of using mortar they are “dry-stacked” using expoxy to bind the units. This provides the effect of mortarless stacked stone.
• Veneer Stone – Thin set: This stone is cut thin and applied like a traditional tile using a modified thinset mortar on an appopriate substrate. This is disussed more later in this article.

Stone can come in a variety of finishes as well. The two basic types of finishes are:

• Rustic: This finish is unrefined with a rugged texture or a smooth rounded surface such as river rock.
• Smooth: This finish creates a flat surface from cutting the stone and then grinding the face smooth. Smooth finishes can remain as a “natural” finish or can be highly polished for a reflective quality.

Natural Stones

Natural stones are created through a variety of natural processes, leading to a wide variety of stone types. Stone can provide an interesting alternative to more typical materials, especially on larger homes. We’ll discuss some of the more commonly used architectural stone types below:

Granite

Granite is a hard and very durable stone, typically identified by its speckled appearance of smaller grains of varying color. This material isn’t commonly used for exterior residential applications, but more for countertops inside homes.

Limestone

Limestone is a calcium carbonate material and is the most commonly used stone for exterior residential applications, typically as detail elements within a brick facade. Limestone is a relatively uniform stone with little variation within a given block or piece of stone. It’s color ranges from cool to warm grays to deep and rich ochre colors depending on the location of the quarry. Limestone is one of the more easily cut and profiled stone, hence its common use as a building material.

Marble

Marble is considered a “high end” material due to the visual uniqueness of the stone. Marble is typically identified by dynamic streaks of tones and colors with a given field of the material, especially when using a highly-polished finish. However, it’s not a common exterior material for homes.

Travertine

Travertine is a type of limestone that is formed as calcium carbonate deposits in or near hot springs or in limestone caves. This material is noted for its refined “pock-marked” appearance, typically with a warm cream to tan coloration. This isn’t a commonly used exterior residential material but can bring an element of sophistication to a home’s aesthetic.

Sandstone

Sanstone is created from grains of sand and quartz that’s been compressed under great pressure over eons of time. Though similar to limestone, its structure provides a finer-grained aesthetic. Sandstone tends to be warmer in color than limestone with a wider range of coloration, often with sweeps of darker and lighter material in any given slab.

Man Made Stones

As with many things in the building industry, man made items have been created to mimic the natural. Stone is no different.

Man made stone, also called cultured stone, decorative stone, or synthetic stone, is made of concrete with a variety of pigments that’s formed into a variety of types and sizes of products. Many of these products can be attached directly to a backing structure, minimizing the need for additional support like you need for brick.

Man made stone has come a long way in its aesthetic development, providing a wide range of sizes, styles, and colors often mimicking the look of real stone to the extent that it’s not easy to discerne between the two.

Man made stone doesn’t require the same expertise that’s needed for natural stone so labor costs could be somewhat lower. Its lighter weight allows for panelization where multiple pieces are applied to a backing structure which is then installed onto the house, further saving on labor costs.

Polyurethane

Another man made alternative for stone is polyurethane, which can be used to create stone-look panels. This lightest-weight solution for the look of stone tends to be the least costly. It’s also able to mimic the natural look of stone to a somewhat good degree of accuracy, but will seem a bit too “uniform” since it won’t have real mortar joints and tends to have less of a range of realistic coloration within the “stone”. However, polyurethane can provide some insulative benefit for your home.

Stucco

Stucco is one of the timeless exterior coverings that’s been around for ages. It’s a mixture of cement, sand, water, and lime that’s applied wet to a mesh or backing material to provide a protective coating once it’s dried. Some additives are mixed in depending on the situation, such as acrylic and fiberglass.

Stucco is durable, non-combustable, and resistant to insects and pests. The matrix of the material is breathable, allowing for any moisture that gets into it to dry out.

Stucco can be applied with a variety of surface textures, from relatively smooth to heavily textured. It can be used in most climates, though climates with heavy rain, snow, or hail might cause the stucco to be damaged more easily than in drier climates. Stucco is insect repellant and non-combustable.

It can be applied to both walls and horizontal surfaces such as ceilings and soffits. It can be prone to cracking over time, especially with strong temperature swings and building movement. Patching cracks quickly will provide for a long-lasting finish.

Stucco can be mixed with various materials to give a variety of color tones, typically in the brown to tan ranges. It can also be painted as long as breathable paint is used.

Traditional stucco uses a 3-coat process, while some 1-coat options are available using acrylics in the mixture.

Today, most stucco finishes are applied as part of an exterior insulation finishing system (EIFS). This system consists of several components that are attached to the waterproof substrate of a home. It consists of an adhesive/drainage layer on which a lightweight rigid insulation board is applied and/or mechanically attached. The insulation board is then covered with the stucco finish consisting of a basecoat with embedded reinforcing mesh then a finish coat made with colorfast, crack-resistant acrylic co-polimers.

The benefit of EIFS is that it acts as continuous exterior insulation without the thermal breaks that occur with traditional batt insulation. However, supplemental insulation such as batt insulation in wall framing or exterior insulated sheathing board is typically used to obtain the final insulative value needed.

Synthetic & Engineered Products for Exterior Trim

Various man made materials have been created for exterior applications. We’ve already discussed , cement fiber, man-made stone, and polyurethane panels. Below are some man made materials for trim around doors and windows, at roof eaves, and other trimwork:

Engineered Wood

This material is a blend of various types of small wood pieces, glue, and some resin, and has become a popular alternative to solid wood. This material can be stained and painted, with some available with factory applied finishes.

Like wood, engineered wood has some limitations. It can be damaged by water, typically by swelling at the edges, especially OSB, chipboard/particleboard, and hardboard. Delamination can also become an issue with some material.

The varieties of engineered wood have differing properties and limitations, such as not being able to be mitered, or some being manufactured in limited sizes.

Engineered wood is available as:

• Chipboard (aka particleboard or low-density fiberboard) which looks like compressed wood dust and small wood fibers with small open cells
• HDF (aka high-density fiberboard or hardboard) which is a higher-density version of MDF.
• MDF (medium-density fiberboard) which looks like solid wood dust
• OSB (oriented strand board) which looks like a panel of wood flakes

Some engineered wood might not be suitable for exterior conditions, so detailed research on available products and manufacturers is a must.

Treated Wood

This type of wood will have an added preservative and sometimes other treatments applied to wood trim. Non-tox and non-metallic preservatives are available which minimize corrosion and chemical leakage into the environment.

Treated wood trim comes in a wide array of sizes that will last longer than traditional wood trim, perform well in a wide variety of climates, and be moisture an UV light resistant. Many trims are available factory primed, which reduces the amount of field work required for painting.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass is a durable and weather resistant material. Though trim is available in this material, options are much more limited than with other materials.

Plastics

A variety of trim material is available using numerous types of plastic. These are:

• Cellular PVC
• Foamed Polystyrene
• Polyethylene Lumber
• Polymer Composite Resin
• Polyurethane
• Vinyl

Plastic trims are available in a variety of colors and won’t fade, and are lightweight and easy to work with. They are inherently pest resistant. Many come with a wood grain look, but will still look like plastic.

Though it can be durable and doesn’t need to be repainted, plastic trim can be more expensive than wood, can expand, contract, soften, and sag in direct sun, and can become brittle and crack in cold weather.

Wood-Plastic Composite

WPC’s are a combination of thermoplastics and wood cellulose chemically bonded together. Though commonly used for decks and patios, exterior trim, moulding, and frames are available.

WPC’s are malleable during production, so they can be formed into a variety of shapes such as arches. They are risistant to rot, but can absorb some moisture due to the high wood fiber content. Additional treatments are available to improve water resistance.

Poly-Ash

Poly-ash is a composite of fly ash recovered from coal-burninig power plants mixed in adjesive polymers. It’s impervious to water, dimensionally stable across temperatures, and cumbustion resistant. It can be cut with carbide saw blades, and can be nail fastened and has a paint grade finish.

Tile

Though not typically used as a full enclosure material, decorative ceramic or porcelain tile has been used as an accent material for centuries, mostly in stucco walls in warmer, drier climates. This type of tile has also been used as a wall finish in protected conditions such as in covered porches.

Today, there are new stone products that are essentially tiles used for exterior enclosures. These newer tiles are typically thin stone that can be installed similar to traditional tile and be used in multiple climates, with special installation requirements depending on which type of climate you’re in. The tiles are applied using setting beds on appropriate substrates.

Wood

Wood has been used as an enclosure material for millennia. As discussed earlier in this article, wood boards, shingles, and panels are often used for exterior finish material.

Probably the earliest method of using wood is as a log. Logs can be stacked horizontally to create exterior structural walls. Joints between the logs are handled by cutting the logs to be interlocking. Log cabins are the traditional structures, but today many large custom homes use logs as a defining characteristic of their home.

Another method of using wood is timber, which is wood cut from logs into large rectangular cross section dimensions. Timber is typically used as a landscape element for terracing. They’re also used as structural support elements such as columns or as exposed trusses supporting roofs over large porches. However, timber, like logs, can also be stacked to form an exterior structural wall.

Combinations

House exteriors are rarely just one material. Its the combination of materials that can make life interesting. Below are examples of how materials can be combined.

Note: All photos by Cayl Hollis unless noted otherwise.