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Home Building Articles

2017 Top Exterior Products

Source: Professional Builder

Exterior Home Porch

Trim and Siding / Louisiana-Pacific

LP SmartSide Trim & Siding looks like and works and cuts like wood, but offers the durability of LP engineered wood, with the manufacturer's proprietary four-component SmartGuard manufacturing process for strength and resistance to termites and decay. LP offers a complete line of high performance trim and siding products to complement almost any building style.

Composite Vertical Siding / Louisana-Pacific

LP now offers 16-foot LP SmartSide Vertical Siding to meet the growing demand for vertical siding boards longer than 8 feet. Best suited for the board-and-batten architectural style, the engineered wood strand substrates panels measure 3/8-inch thick and 16 inches wide and feature a cedar-grain texture with deep shadow lines. The 16 -foot length eliminates unsightly horizontal joints and limits waste on small walls.

Fiber-Cement Siding / James Hardie

James Hardie fiber-cement siding products – HardiePlank, HardieShingle, and HardieTrim – are designed to provide the natural character of wood while resisting rotting, curling, warping, and splitting, providing a low-maintenance exterior with a wide range of design options. Baked-on color delivers a beautiful finish that resists fading. HardiePlank lap siding offers smooth or textured finishes, or a beaded profile, while HardieShingle captures the look of cedar shingles in three profiles: Staggered Edge Panel, Straight-Edge Panel and half Rounds. HardieTrim boards offer an authentic look while providing design flexibility for columns, friezes, doors, windows, and other accent areas.

Manufactured Stone Veneer / Boral

Cast in flexible molds created from exact replicas of natural stones and hand-colored with iron oxide pigments, Boral's Cultured Stone I made of lightweight of full-thickness stone and can be adhered to most wall surfaces. The Contemporary Collection is both modern and modular, offering a clean, linear aesthetic in a range of sizes, depths, textures, and colors that includes the lines Pro-Fit Ledgestone, Hewn Stone, and Coral Stone.

Stone Veneer / Echelon

Echelon, an Oldcastle Architectural Products brand, has several offerings in its line of Artisan Masonry Stone Thin Veneers that are lightweight, mimic the look of natural stone, and install quickly and easily: Hillcrest, Kensley, and Westpeak. The veneers are manufactured using Echelon's patented dry-cast system, which creates natural stone look with integrated color throughout each stone, it resists fading. The aggregate stone is easy to clean and resistant to salt, water, and thaw damage.

Stone Veneer Panels / Boral

To provide the look of traditional stone masonry but at a lower cost and with less installation time, Boral created Versetta Stone, a panelized nonstructural, cement-based manufactured stone veneer made from lightweight aggregate materials that is just one-fourth the weight of full-thickness stone. Panels install with nails or screws and have an integrated moisture management system. No additional support footings are required, and there is no need for painting, coating, or sealing. Versetta Stone comes in two cuts, Ledgestone and Tight-Cut, and in a range of colors.

Stone-Veneer Columns / Ply Gem

Ply Gem Stone's Column Collection provides builders and contractors with a way to add curb appeal and character to a house. Designed as an architectural feature for applications including fence and railing accents, the stacked-stone-look columns are molded from a Civil War-era ledgestone fence and then hand-painted. The Column Collection is similar to quarried stone with authentic, variegated design, and the columns require no mortar. Two colors are available; the natural-looking Canyon, and Mystic, a dark gray that fits well with modern designs.

Manufactured Stone / Provia

Manufactured Stone by ProVia has a range of offerings that include Natural Cut Stone, which has fossilization features and color variations that reflect those found in nature and is available in three colors: Woodbridge, Fernwood, and Ashworth; and PrecisionFit Stone Panels, which attach for a precise fit and quick installation, characterized by irregular edges and dynamic patterns that provide a stacked-stone look. Available colors are Sage Grey, Adobe Sands, and Driftwood.