Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern American usage is a word for long, thin boards used to cover walls and (formerly) roofs of buildings. Historically, it has also been called ''clawboard'' and ''cloboard''. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the term ''weatherboard'' is always used. An older meaning of "clapboard" is small split pieces of oak imported from Germany for use as barrel staves, and the name is a partial translation (from , "to fit") of Middle Dutch and related to German .

Types

Quaker Hill Historic District - 149 Old Norwich Rd, New London County CT

Riven

Clapboards were originally riven radially producing

triangular A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- collinea ...

or "feather-edged" sections, attached thin side up and overlapped thick over thin to shed water.Heart side of boards
''PopularWoodworking.com''.

Radially sawn

Later, the boards were radially sawn in a type of

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

called a ''clapboard mill'', producing ''vertical-grain'' clapboards. The more commonly used boards in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

are vertical-grain boards. Depending on the diameter of the log, cuts are made from deep along the full length of the log. Each time the log turns for the next cut, it is rotated until it has turned 360°. This gives the radially sawn clapboard its taper and true vertical grain.

Flat-sawn

''Flat-grain'' clapboards are cut tangent to the annual growth rings of the tree. As this technique was common in most parts of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, it was carried by immigrants to their colonies in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and in Australia and

. Flat-sawn wood cups more and does not hold paint as well as radially sawn wood.

Chamferboard

''Chamferboards'' are an Australian form of weatherboarding using tongue-and-groove joints to link the boards together to give a flatter external appearance than regular angled weatherboards.

Finger jointed

Some modern clapboards are made up of shorter pieces of wood ''finger jointed'' together with an adhesive.

Wood species

In North America clapboards were historically made of split oak, pine and spruce. Modern clapboards are available in red cedar and pine. In some areas, clapboards were traditionally left as raw wood, relying upon good air circulation and the use of 'semi-hardwoods' to keep the boards from rotting. These boards eventually go grey as the tannins are washed out from the wood. More recently clapboard has been tarred or painted—traditionally black or white due to locally occurring minerals or pigments. In modern clapboard these colors remain popular, but with a hugely wider variety due to chemical pigments and stains. Clapboard houses may be found in most parts of the British Isles, and the style may be part of all types of traditional building, from cottages to windmills, shops to workshops, as well as many others. In New Zealand, clapboard housing dominates buildings before 1960. Clapboard, with a corrugated iron roof, was found to be a cost-effective building style. After the big earthquakes of 1855 and 1931, wooden buildings were perceived as being less vulnerable to damage. Clapboard is always referred to as ''weatherboard'' in New Zealand. Newer, cheaper designs often imitate the form of clapboard construction as siding made of

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

( uPVC),

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

, fiber cement, or other man-made materials. These materials can provide a lightweight alternative to wooden cladding.

References

External links

Research report containing photos of a clapboard roof in Virginia, U.S.A.
{{Wood products, state=expanded Building materials House styles Wood products