This disclosure pertains in general to a composite exterior siding panel that includes a system for interlocking panels that facilitate the downward movement of moisture away from the building structure. The disclosure also details how the system of interlocking panels limits the ability of wind to undermine the panels creating pressure differentials on the front and back surface that can dislodge the panel from the structure.
Siding panels serve a two-fold objective of protecting a structure from damaging elements such as sunlight, moisture, hail and strong winds as well as providing an aesthetically appealing external appearance to the structure. The siding must be capable of protecting the structure from blisteringly hot sunlight that can induce thermal expansion and unattractive buckling of the siding. Siding produced from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with organic and inorganic fillers has been shown to minimize thermal expansion and prevent or minimize the buckling of the siding when the solar heat load upon the structure is the greatest. The thermally stable siding is blended with high quality materials and is extruded with sufficient thickness to withstand large diameter hail impacts without permanent deformation. Panel siding must also minimize the infiltration of moisture from heavy wind blown rains and should moisture find its way behind the siding an exit route must be available to avoid the growth of mold and to prevent the rotting of any cellulosic structural elements such as plywood siding and structural framing or the oxidation of ferrous support members.
In addition to the capacity to withstand thermal loading, hail impacts and provide an escape route for moisture, well designed and installed exterior siding must be capable of withstanding high wind loadings. Siding panels that allow wind to gain access to the back surface, or the surface adjacent to the building structure, can experience tremendous loads capable of literally peeling the siding from the building. Consequently, the ability to seal both the upper and lower edges of the siding panel against panel courses above and below is critical to protecting the panels from the effects of strong wind loads.
Numerous siding panel designs exist in the market place; however, all are either lacking in some functional aspect or are prohibitively expensive, difficult to install or require extensive training and costly tools for proper installation. The consequence of such involved training and the acquisition of expensive tools is that these costs must ultimately be passed onto the consumer in order for the installer to experience a profit from her labors.
The product disclosed herein overcomes the adversities posed by wind, hail, rain, sun and complex installation procedures with a simple design that requires little training or sophisticated tools to properly install. In addition, the handsome wood grain exterior surface is aesthetically appealing with the warm textured feel of natural wood yet produced from a composite material that is highly resistant to fading, chipping, moisture damage, cracking and damage by insects.
It is an object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel that is thermally stable and that will not buckle or warp even under the most extreme solar heat loads.
It is another object of the invention to provide an aesthetically appealing exterior surface that replicates a natural wood grain.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel that is lightweight and easy to install by an untrained homeowner with standard tools.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel that is tough, durable and capable of withstanding impacts from large diameter hail.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel that facilitates drainage of moisture trapped between the paneling and the building structure through weep slots in the rear face of the panel that start near the first flat and proceed past the inflection point of the panel.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel that includes a locking leg extending rearwardly from the back face of the panel and that also extends nominally downwardly toward the bottom edge of the panel and that extends longitudinally along the entire length of the panel. The locking leg creates a pocket for insertion of the top edge of a second panel disposed below the first panel to precisely define the positional relationship between the first and second panels.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composite exterior siding panel with a top portion and a bottom portion of a panel separated by an inflection point such that the top and bottom portions diverge at approximately 5 degrees so that when the panel is secured to the side of a structure at the nail strip the panel portion below the inflection point extends away from the building surface. In addition, when installed against a structural wall, the bottom surface of the locking leg is separated from the structural wall by a gap of from 0.020 to 0.060. The gap between the locking leg and the surface of the wall facilitates movement of moisture from upper panel courses to lower panel courses and ultimately to ground level thereby limiting contact with building surfaces that would deteriorate if exposed to the moisture for extended periods of time.
The composite exterior siding panel with interlock system disclosure is directed to a panel capable of protecting a structure from damaging elements such as sunlight, moisture, hail and strong winds as well as providing an aesthetically appealing external appearance to the structure. In a preferred embodiment the siding panel comprises an extruded composite material of polyvinyl chloride that includes a combination of organic and inorganic fillers that increase the panel's durability, resistance to mold growth, resistance to deformation from hail impacts and overall structural strength.
The disclosed siding panel comprises a panel with a front face and a back face along with a top edge and a bottom edge. As is typical with siding panels, the panel course above partially overlaps the panel course below and the description below effectively outlines a system for building multiple courses of panels stacked atop and interlocking with one another on the side of a building.
The disclosed siding panel also includes a top portion of the panel and a bottom portion, the top and bottom portions of the panel diverge from one another at an inflection point. These diverging panel portions facilitate the formation of a path for moisture to travel between panel courses as will be discussed in greater detail below. The disclosed siding panel includes a flange extending substantially perpendicularly from the back face of the panel adjacent the bottom edge as well as a locking leg with a flat pad. The flange and locking leg with a flat pad run longitudinally along the entire length of the panel as do all features described below unless otherwise noted.
The locking leg backside in concert with the back face of the panel form a pocket for insertion of the top edge of a separate panel positioned in a lower panel course. The composite panel also includes a nail strip extending longitudinally along the entire front face of the panel proximate the top edge of the panel to be used in securing the panel to the wall with nails, screws and other securement means. The panel also includes a full contact strip extending longitudinally along the entire back face of the panel proximate the top edge of the panel which serves as the panel's only longitudinally extending area of contact with the wall surface.
After the first course of paneling is applied to the structure the pocket formed by the locking leg backside and the back face of the panel on the second course is positioned over the top edge of the first panel secured to the structure. Once the top edge of the first panel is positioned within the locking leg pocket of the second course, the second course is secured to the structure through the nail strip causing the full contact strip to lay flat against the structure. When a panel is secured to the structure at the full contact strip the entire back face of the panel below the inflection point, including the flat pad of the locking leg, raises off of the structure. Since no features of the back side of the panel below the inflection point are in contact with the wall surface an unobstructed path is created for moisture to flow downward with the aid of gravity.
Once moisture reaches the next lowest panel course it encounters the bottom edge of the first flat proximate the top edge of the panel where weep slots are installed to further facilitate the movement of moisture downward. The weep slots are installed with a separation distance of between 3 and 16 inches with a preferred diameter of about 3/16 inch. The weep slots originate proximate the bottom edge of the first flat and extend past the inflection point thereby allowing moisture to travel past the full contact strip which is firmly pressed against the wall by nails or screws passing through the nail strip. Failing to include weep slots would cause moisture to pool atop the first flat thereby potentially contributing to deterioration of the wall structure due to mold growth or structural member damage. Additionally, without weep slots moisture could become trapped behind the panel during a freeze thaw cycle thereby causing the moisture to expand and push the panels away from the structure loosening the connection to the building.
An additional feature of the disclosed panel is a flange extending substantially perpendicularly from the back face of the panel adjacent the bottom edge. When a second and further courses are installed the flat of the panel flange positioned above lands squarely and firmly on the front face of the lower panel course. The flange serves an aesthetic purpose of simulating a real wood panel that has sufficient thickness to overlap the panel course positioned below. Additionally, the flange serves to limit the intrusion of both high speed winds and wind blown moisture. High speed winds that enter beneath the bottom edge of panels that are not secured at the nail strip can catastrophically peel one or many panels from the wall surface. The flange effectively provides a wind and rain shield keeping the elements from intruding behind the panels and allowing the front face of the panel to provide protection for the structure.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing in which like numerals represent like components.
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All features described below run the entire length of the panel 10 unless otherwise stated. As best seen in
Below the top edge 22 of the panel 10 is a point of inflection 36 separating the panel into a top portion 56 and a bottom portion 58 that directionally diverge from one another at an angle in the range of between 3 and 7 degrees. The inflection angle is preferably 5 degrees; however, this angle may vary depending upon the specific dimensions of the panel 10.
At the bottom edge 24 of the panel 10 is a flange 40 extending substantially perpendicularly from the back face of the panel adjacent the bottom edge 24. The flange 40 has a flange face 60 that when the panel is in position against the wall rests atop the front face 16 of the top portion 56 of the panel 10 as shown at reference number 74. In addition to the flange 40, and as previously discussed, is a locking leg 30 in proximity to the bottom edge 24 extending outwardly from the back face 18 and in the direction of the bottom edge 24. The locking leg 30 includes a front side 62, a back side 64 and a flat 66. As discussed above, the locking leg back side 64 in conjunction with a segment 68 of the panel back face forms a pocket 28 for insertion of the top edge 22, first flat 26 and second flat 34 of panel A positioned therebelow. The pocket 28 has a radius in the range of 0.040 to 0.080 inches and preferably a radius of 0.060 inches.
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In operation, a first course of paneling 10 is positioned against the lower level of the structural wall 38 and confirmed to be level. Next, nails, screws or other appropriate securement means are used to secure the full contact strip 48 of the first panel firmly against the wall 38 through the score line 46 in the nail strip 44 on the front surface 16. As previously discussed, the panel 10 utilizes an inflection point 36 that produces directional divergence between the panel top portion 56 and the panel bottom portion 58 in the range of between 3 and 7 degrees and preferably at about 5 degrees. Consequently, nailing the panel to the wall 38 such that the full contact strip 48 is positioned against the wall 38 causes the panel bottom portion 58, including the locking leg 30, to raise up off of the wall 38. Moisture can exit the area of the first flat 26 by passing through the weep slots 50 which are preferably spaced apart from 3 to 16 inches thereby giving trapped water an opportunity to escape. This moisture moves along the same path past each successive panel until it reaches the lower most surface of the structure where it is discharged to the ambient environment.
Once the first course A is secured to the wall, the locking leg 30 of the second course B is placed over the top edge 22 of the first course A. The locking leg of the second course panel effectively holds the second course in position atop the first course and since the first course A was previously leveled the second course B will remain level. The top edge 22, first flat 26 and second flat 34 all cooperatively engage with the pocket 28 behind the locking leg 30 to form a rigid and secure interlock between successive courses of panels.
Another functional feature of the overall panel design is the flange 40 located at the bottom edge 24. The flange face 60 serves to contact the top portion 56 front face 16 as shown at reference number 74. The flange 40 also serves to prevent or greatly limit the infusion of air behind the panel 10 during strong wind events which can result in the panel being ripped from the surface 38 of the building. Additionally, the flange 40 greatly minimizes or prevents the infusion of water during rain storm and high wind events that can lead to water being trapped behind the siding saturating cellulose based building materials that can rapidly grow mold causing environmental as well as structural problems.
While the preferred form of the present invention has been shown and described above, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject invention is not limited by the figures and that the scope of the invention includes modifications, variations and equivalents which fall within the scope of the attached claims. Moreover, it should be understood that the individual components of the invention include equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of this invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130160387 A1 | Jun 2013 | US |