During the process of building a metal building, at some point you may have to decide if you want horizontal siding installed or vertical siding. While you may think that there is not a real difference between the two, there are actually many benefits of each as well as a few cons that should be taken into consideration before making a decision. In this article, we are going to cover the differences between each option to help you decide which option is better for your metal building.
Siding For Metal Buildings
If you are unfamiliar with the process of designing and building a metal building, you will have to choose from many options including the length, width, height, type of roof, placement of garage doors, walk-in doors, colors, and siding. With so many options throughout the process, it can be overwhelming deciding all of these things especially when the building could last several lifetimes. To better help you along your journey, let's jump into the details about the metal siding that encloses your structure from the elements.
What Is Vertical Siding?
Vertical siding is just like it sounds; It's siding panels that are installed in a vertical position. Metal buildings use metal siding in varying lengths, colors, and gauges, but most metal panels are designed to have ribs and valleys. The ribs and valleys are essentially corrugations in the metal to give the sheet metal more structural integrity. The corrugations in the sheet metal make each panel more resistant to bending, warping and flexing, which makes it a great option for siding any structure. The orientation of the ribs and valleys are the determining factor of the orientation of the siding.
What Is Horizontal Siding?
Horizontal, much like vertical siding, still has all of the corrugations (ribs and valleys) but are oriented horizontally. While vertical siding will run from the bottom of a structure to the top, horizontal siding will run from one side of the building to the other side of the building.
Benefits Of Vertical Siding
Vertical siding is definitely the better option when deciding between the two, but why? Since vertical siding runs from top to bottom with no seams in the horizontal direction, it makes vertical siding less likely to ever encounter any water damage. In cases of extreme weather where you may have rain blowing nearly sideways, vertical siding will not allow water to pool on the ribs of the sheet metal simply because the ribs are oriented vertically. In addition to improved drainage, vertical siding is also much stronger due to the construction of the additional framing needed to install the siding vertically giving it enhanced strength and durability.
Disadvantages Of Vertical Siding
Although vertical siding is definitely the better option, there are a few cons related to installing vertical siding on your metal building. The first con that comes to mind is the biggest one: the cost. Vertical siding requires much more steel framing to install because the sheets are only three feet wide. The sheets require cross sections of galvanized steel tubing every four feet or less, depending on the height of the structure, to provide a secure attachment point for the siding to the structure. The galvanized steel tubing is the thicker and heavier metal that is used in the construction of metal buildings, which is much more costly than the sheet metal used for the siding.
Another con of using vertical siding is the complexity and additional time needed to install vertical siding. Additional metal is needed as cross sections to give the siding a place to be secured to the structure, which causes the installation time to be increased. Despite the fact that prefabricated metal buildings generally have fast installation times, the use of vertical siding can extend the duration required to complete your building. This may not be ideal if you are working against tight deadlines, particularly in areas with volatile weather that could further delay the installation process.
Benefits Of Horizontal Siding
Horizontal siding certainly has its advantages, with the most notable ones being cost savings and ease of installation. The cost involved of using horizontal siding to enclose your metal building are nearly minimal. The only costs are the siding and the screws to secure the sheet metal to the frame. Since the frame is already designed to hold a roof up, the upright frame posts are perfect for securing the siding horizontally, which also makes it easy to install.
Installation of the siding is easy because no additional metal is needed to secure the sheet metal to the legs, or upright posts. Installing horizontal sheeting does require two people to hold the sheet metal in place while it's being screwed into position. However, once the top sheet is secured, the subsequent sheets become easier, as the ribs and valleys from the top sheet overlap the next one, holding it in place until it can be secured to the frame.
Disadvantages Of Horizontal Siding
Horizontal siding does have a few cons which include less than optimal drainage, and decreased strength and security. The horizontal panels exhibit less than optimal drainage due to the small grooves created by the ribs and valleys, where water tends to have higher cohesive and adhesive properties. This simply means water can stick to your siding and in larger amounts. In environments with lots of rainfall and humidity, it makes your siding much more likely to hold water and raises the potential for rust.
In addition to potential drainage problems, it is not as structurally sound and poses a greater risk for security threats. With no cross sections, there are gaps between each frame post that are typically five feet wide. These gaps, especially in the center of the gap, are the weakest point in the metal siding. These particular spots are the most susceptible to damage from events that may not seem highly likely but can occur, such as a kid hitting your siding with a baseball, an intruder attempting to break into your metal building, or a large animal running into your siding. While these scenarios are hypothetical and may not happen often, if at all, they highlight potential vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
Both vertical and horizontal siding can be installed on your metal building, each with its own set of benefits and disadvantages. To summarize this article, vertical siding emerges as the superior choice in terms of structural integrity and drainage capabilities. However, its drawback lies in the higher cost and additional time required for installation. On the other hand, horizontal siding is the preferable choice if you aim to enclose your metal building without incurring substantial costs or investing excessive time in installation. Nevertheless, it comes with limitations in terms of drainage capabilities and strength.
When it comes to picking the right siding for your metal building, or metal garage, there is no right answer. The one that you prefer and is best for your situation is just simply that. Although we cannot make the decision for you, we can lay down the facts to help you make an informed decision and help you choose the siding that works best for your build.
To compare the difference in the price between the two for the building you're planning to buy, simply visit our 3D Builder, and toggle between the two options to get pricing difference in real time!
