Correct installation of basement siding

Facing the facades of buildings with tiles, natural stone or wood is now considered an unnecessarily laborious action. Complex structures that have natural roots and reduce the amount of these very natural materials are being replaced by lightweight panels made of plastic, vinyl and metal. Siding is not only an environmentally friendly type of building decoration, but also very economical. And if you don't want to revet the whole house, but it is simply necessary to create a confident and solid foundation for the house, an unpretentious but picturesque basement siding comes to the rescue.

The cladding of the basement of the building is divided into types according to two criteria: material and method of installation.

The most common siding materials are:

• polyvinyl chloride;
• vinyl;
• polypropylene.

All of them are a universal finish for basement siding, because they have excellent resistance properties: to ultraviolet radiation, moisture, and temperature extremes. They can easily serve for many years. Of course, there is also metal siding. But it requires additional treatment of the material itself with anti-corrosion agents and more thorough care.

According to the method of laying, types of basement siding can be horizontal and vertical.

Most often, it is for the lower part of the building that professionals and amateurs of the construction business use horizontal laying. And in order to provide the basement of the house with high-quality cladding with your own hands as simply, quickly and efficiently as possible, you need to acquire basic tools and prepare the base of the building for installation.

Before proceeding directly with the installation, it is necessary to prepare the surface for work.

First of all, attention should be paid to the evenness of the walls. Basement siding will give out any of your skeletons with giblets (read: unevenness). And it should also be remembered that when facing the base of a house with synthetic canvases, an excellent environment can form under them for the appearance and spread of fungus, mold and other moisture-loving microorganisms. Therefore, the walls under the slabs must be treated with an antiseptic or any other impregnation.

A prerequisite before laying siding boards is to clean the base from debris, dust, cobwebs and other things, so that the surface is perfectly free of foreign objects.

The next step in the preparation will be the solution of insulation or ventilation of the facade. Since both of these phenomena are very common in today's environment, training should be carried out with these features in mind. With any of these options, it is necessary to make allowances for the purchased materials.

For self-installation of basement siding, you first need the following tools:

• screwdriver - you can use an old grandfather's screwdriver, but it will take more time for such work;
• self-tapping screws with a flat head (a lot of self-tapping screws);
• water or infrared level;
• hacksaw for metal or jigsaw.

Of course, for each case and for each master, his own set of tools is characteristic. This list is meant to get you started.

As for the components of the siding itself, everything is simple here. To mount the panels on the plinth, you need: lathing (metal profiles or wooden bars), starting plate, finishing profile and j-profile.That's all for fixing the panels to the base / plinth wall. The main parts that make up the siding itself are: sheathing panels with the selected design and corner panels.

It is not difficult to calculate correctly how much siding is required to finish the basement. But here special care should be taken. After all, no one wants to go to the store in the middle of the installation process and buy additional material. Or, conversely, buy a bunch of panels, and then don't know where to put the rest, and why so much money was spent.

We proceed to measure the base of the facade of the house. By measuring the width and height of one side, you will get the surface area for the cladding. Do the same with the rest of the sides of your country or country house. By adding all four numbers, you get the total surface area.

In building stores today you can find a wide variety of wall panels for siding, different firms and manufacturers. So, you can find various sizes, textures, styling methods. Some manufacturers release their products already and with fasteners specifically for their panels. At the same time, the exact total area of ​​the panels and the usable area are indicated on each package. Pay attention to the first value and calculate how many packages of this material are needed in your case.

Be sure to add 10-15% to the resulting number of packages. This will help you to be sure that in the event of force majeure, you have a margin. At the same time, this is not an exorbitant amount worth crazy money.

With a full set of materials, accessories and tools, happy, you can start installing the basement siding.

When starting to install plinth siding with your own hands, you should start with a supporting base. It is worth noting here that in some cases the lathing is not required. When the walls of the house are perfectly flat (from foam and gas blocks and others), the crate as such may not be needed.

The installation of the lathing begins with the installation of the planks of your choice: wood or metal. The next step is the correct location of these strips.

There are three types of battens installation:

• vertical;
• horizontal:
• combined.

For cladding the basement, a horizontal one is best, since it is a small area that has practically no openings. If you decide to sheathe the whole house with siding panels at once, then it makes sense to mount a common vertical or combined crate.

Let's dwell on the metal profile. Outside, the profile strips are attached to the plinth using dowels and self-tapping screws (if the wall material is brick or stone). An important point is to leave one to one and a half centimeters between the self-tapping screw head and the blade in order to allow temperature fluctuations to make their own changes in the shape and volume of all components without compromising the appearance of the siding.

For a log base, you can use standard self-tapping screws or galvanized nails, also remembering to leave a small distance between the cap and the base.

Do not forget, before installing the lathing on the base, you must complete all the steps to insulate or ventilate the facade. After installing the supporting structure, you will no longer have this opportunity.

As soon as all the work on the installation of the lathing is completed, we proceed to the installation of the siding panels. The first is the starting bar, which is a kind of guide, indicating the path for further movement of the entire siding structure. Therefore, it is very important at this stage to use the building level. It also happens that the ground around the house is not even enough, in some places even very uneven. Cutting siding panels in such a way that it looks aesthetically pleasing is not possible.This is where the J-profile comes to the rescue of builders. This is a metal bar with an external j-shaped harpoon hook. The profile is installed as close to the ground as possible, and the starting bar is attached to it without sacrifice and distortion.

To install the canvases on the basement crate, you should adhere to a certain sequence, which will help you quickly and efficiently install all the panels.

The movement of stacking elements occurs from left to right and from bottom to top.

• First, the corner siding element is installed.
• The first piece is trimmed vertically to the left edge to completely align that side. It is put on the starter bar or J-profile and slides to the left as far as possible to enter the groove of the corner element. Remember to leave natural gaps between siding panels.

• The level of this part is carefully measured. When it becomes exactly level, you can fasten it with self-tapping screws to the crate.
• Proceed with the installation of subsequent elements in the same way. Each next row is staggered so that the joints do not go in a straight line along the entire height of the base.
• Before installing the last row, a finishing strip is attached.

Installation of basement siding is not a particularly difficult process, but it requires care and precision, without which it is impossible to achieve a good final result.

I especially want to dwell on the sheathing of the pile foundation with PVC panels.

Screw piles are used to found a house in places where it is simply impossible to level the ground surface., and the owners do not want to mess around and wait a long time. The main difference between basement siding in such structures is that, first of all, it is necessary to very carefully process the piles themselves with a waterproofing agent and perform all the necessary drainage work. Check for debris, vegetation, or wildlife burrows under the house. The rest is all done in the same sequence as with a conventional base.

When installing basement siding with your own hands, you can resort to the advice and recommendations of experienced specialists.

• If you want to recreate curly, unusual corner designs, you can also use a metal profile that takes any shape if you make small cuts in the right places.
• The number of decorative siding corners is always equal to the number of rows of plinth trim panels. Thus, you can easily calculate their preliminary number.

• Fastening one corner first, then installing the panels, covering everything with a corner again is wrong. There is a risk of not calculating and not guessing with the grooves. The installation of all siding elements must be carried out taking into account all the recommendations given in the instructions for it.
• Please note that cladding a private house with siding involves the use of a large number of screws or nails. So, one standard panel can take up to five pieces. They must be screwed into special holes. At the same time, in order to distribute the load on all panels evenly, screws or nails should be placed strictly in the center of the holes of the horizontal panels. As for the corners, here, in the very first lower hole, a nail or self-tapping screw is inserted into its lower part, and then also in the middle.

Professionals recommend paying special attention to some of the nuances when choosing panels for siding.

• Coloring. The higher the quality of the product, the more solid and bright the color of the panels will be both outside and inside.
• Thickness. This parameter should be the same along the entire length and the entire height of the panel. If you look at it directly and see seals, swellings, curvatures, run away from this manufacturer or seller.

• Dimensions. The sizing information provided by the manufacturer on the packaging must match the dimensions of the panels available.
• Holes. All perforations are the same size, shape and smooth.
• Appearance.The presence of the slightest surface defects: peeling, swelling, delamination is not allowed.

In care, basement siding is very unpretentious. Timely cleaning it will extend not only its service life, but also your aesthetic pleasure. For washing the panels, it is convenient to use a hose in which water is supplied under a moderate pressure. In hard-to-reach places, a car brush can come to the rescue. The main thing is not to use materials with a rough surface and sometimes use classic detergents.

When installing fiber cement siding (or panels for masonry and brickwork), it is necessary to take into account the factor that this material is very capricious and gives poor shrinkage, it is difficult to react to weather changes. Thus, the approach to this type of cladding should also be special so as not to spoil your mood in the event of a sudden force majeure.

For installation of basement siding, see the following video.