Reimagining Design: Sustainable Solutions Suppliers: Wrap Your Home in Illusion

Magical Materials Protect Your Exterior

Siding, roofing, soffits ­ chances are they are not what they appear. They may look like wood or stone or other traditional materials, but more and more builders and homeowners are opting for materials that mimic the look of the real thing, but give better performance.

Your home becomes the master changeling, assuming the warmth and look of classic styling from an assortment of practical new materials. It's done by the magic of technology.

Surreptitious Siding

Take fibre cement. It can be made to resemble either stucco or natural wood, but it resists fire and is low maintenance. Fibre cement goes under trades names such as Hardiplank, Hardishin-gle, Hardipanel and Harditrim. You may be convinced that you are looking at and touching wood, but you have a product that outperforms your wildest expectations.

Just how popular is it?

"Most people in the Okanagan are going for the cement siding
needs little maintenance. Newer vinyl sidings only need to be washed down with water a couple of times a year. Vinyl doesn't require painting, but can be repainted if you want to change colours.

Disadvantages of vinyl are environmental concerns. It is made from PVC, a petroleum-based product that is not renewable. There may be difficulties disposing of it safely.

Aluminum siding can take on the look of vinyl or wood, but offers good insulation qualities and maximum protection from fire or water. Certain kinds of steel mimic vinyl siding but without the seams. Disadvantages are the possibility of dents and dings, and need for repainting after a few years.

Stucco, a plaster material, has always mimicked the look of adobe clay. But it too is better than ever, with colours mixed right into the stucco before it is applied. Stucco is perfect for the Tuscan look, especially in today's strong colours ­ shaded golds, terra cotta, earthy browns and vineyard greens.

Roofs in Disguise

To top your house off with just the look you want, think fibreglass. Like the line from Pretty

Photo: Dorothy Brotherton

since the 2003 fires. It's fireproof, very durable, lasts forever, won't rot or mildew. It's permanent," said Don Hoffman of OK Builders. "A lot of home that were rebuilt after the fires went with cement siding."

Besides that fireproof comfort, it offers a wood-grain finish that looks like it came from the forest.

"Fibre cement bridges the gap between wood's beauty and vinyl's low maintenance," offers myhomeus.com.

Many people dream of a stone house to evoke the old European
look, or brick to echo eastern Canadian and New England elegance. But real stone and brick are high-priced. There are manufactured stones and bricks available that require nearly no maintenance, are lower in cost and give the same level of satisfaction as stone hewn from a quarry or brick directly from the kiln.

Even low-cost vinyl siding can work like a transformer, reinventing itself as wood. Your neighbours will think your siding is rough-sawn cedar, but quality vinyl is long-lasting and Woman, fibreglass asks, "Who do you want me to be?" Fibreglass shingles can masquerade as cedar shakes, or blend with any house style and colour.

The most popular architectural shingle today is the multi-layer laminate, according to building consultants at Home Depot: "For a long time the classic three-tab shingle dominated the roofing scene. However, the benefits of upscale shingles have become apparent. The shake-like styling of laminates and the extraordinary protection they provide, makes them a best choice for value and return on investment."

The top-of-the-line shingle from Building Products Canada's Architect Collection is a


For roofing, consider also tiles, tar-and-gravel updated applications and metal. Aluminum and other metals no longer look like barn roofing. In metal roofing, look for sheets that have been rolled at high temperatures to prevent paint from cracking at bends.

In high-end homes, touches of copper roofing add an elegance achieved by no other material. A copper turret can change an ordinary home into a castle.

Homeowners are not turning their backs completely on real cedar shingles, because pressurized fire retardants and preservatives are used to impregnate the wood, and achieve a roof that can last 30 to 40 years.

Seaming the roof and siding together are the soffits, those undersides of roof overhangs. Traditionally they were built of plywood panels, but today are most often aluminum, with well-placed vents to help your roof "breathe."

Increasingly, fibreglass and fibre cement are used in soffit material also, to tie it to siding and complete the illusion of wood wrap-around.

Willowood Projects in the Okanagan has used pine soffitry combined with copper eaves troughs and drainpipes in some of its high-end show homes to capture the look of classic construction.

n dorothy brotherton
deep profile organic shingle that creates the look of dimensional wood shakes.

DreamRoofs.com is a user-friendly website packed with information for the Canadian building scene.

Copyright © 2008 Wheat King Publishing and the authors. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Okanagan Home are those of the writers and editors, and do not represent the official position of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, Central Okanagan, or of its members.