The exterior surfaces of houses and other structures are often protected by exterior siding products made from wood, vinyl, aluminum, bricks, stucco, fiber-cement, and other materials. Wood and fiber-cement siding products, for example, are generally panels, planks, or shakes that are “hung” on plywood or composite walls. Although wood siding products are popular, wood siding can become unsightly or even defective because it may rot, warp, or crack. Wood siding products are also highly flammable and subject to insect damage. Therefore, wood siding products have several drawbacks.
Fiber-cement siding products are relatively new and offer several advantages compared to other types of siding materials. Fiber-cement siding is generally a composite material composed of cement, silica sand, cellulose, and binders. To form fiber-cement siding panels and planks, a liquid fiber-cement composite is rolled or pressed into the shape of the panels or planks, and then the fiber-cement composite is cured. Fiber-cement siding is advantageous because it is nonflammable, weatherproof, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Moreover, fiber-cement siding does not rot and insects do not consume the fiber-cement composites.
Fiber-cement siding products are typically installed by a builder, a siding contractor at a particular job site, or a modular home manufacturer in a factory. To install fiber-cement siding panels, for example, the panels are cut to a desired length and then nailed to plywood or wood-composite panels in a manner similar to hanging panels of cedar siding. Some fiber-cement siding panels include a single embossed, horizontal line to assist the installer with the alignment and overlap distance of adjacent panels. Trim materials can be attached to the structure before or after the fiber-cement siding is installed. The fiber-cement siding and the trim materials are subsequently painted.
One concern with fiber-cement siding is that some installers do not or cannot read the installation instructions, and consequently fail to attach the fiber-cement siding to the structure properly, such as nailing the siding in an improper location. More specifically, installers sometimes place nails at a position that is either too high or too low on a panel when attaching the panel to a wall. When fiber-cement siding is installed using the blind nail method, nails that are placed too low on the panel will be visible even after the overlying panel of fiber-cement siding is attached. Alternatively, if the nail is placed too high on the panel, the bottom edge of an overlying panel may not lay against the top surface of the underlying panel. Consequently, the overlying panel may rattle when windows or doors in the structure are closed or in high winds. Moreover, a high nail on an overlying panel of fiber-cement siding may cause the panel to appear to be warping or buckling even though fiber-cement panels cannot warp or buckle because they are inert. This appearance creates a poor image for fiber-cement sidings, and consumers are very sensitive to siding failures. Furthermore, improperly installed siding can void the warranty and be costly to repair. Therefore, there is a significant need to assist installers in properly attaching fiber-cement siding to structures.