The use of ready-made wall panels for cladding a house: insulation and decoration of the facade, two in one

During the construction of the house, when all the internal work was completed, the question arose with the choice of material for the external decoration. We looked at plastic and metal siding, insulation and plaster with further painting. Each of these options had their own pros and cons. Most of them were quite expensive. For the plastic, additional insulation work was required, plus the siding is not very resistant to fading.

Metal interferes with cellular communications and is difficult to straighten in the event of an accidental jam. And then on the Internet we saw a new technology for exterior decoration of buildings, using wall panels. This material looks like a sandwich of insulation in the form of foam plastic and an external cement coating, which immediately has a texture in the form of tiles or brickwork.

There is no specialized organization for the production of such panels in our city, but there is a small company that manufactures them to order. On sale there are two options for the thickness of the insulation: 5 and 10 cm. We live in a harsh continental climate, with dry air, the maximum temperature in winter is minus 30 degrees Celsius and is quite easily tolerated. Therefore, we chose a five-centimeter insulation. The outer pattern of the cement coating imitating natural stone made it possible to ignore the clear joining of the joints and retained its appearance after cutting to size.

It is necessary to fasten the wall panel to the wall using mounting glue. It can be used only at positive temperatures, so it is important to be in time before the cold weather. The tiles have 4 holes for dowels. Using a puncher and glue, we attached them to expanded clay blocks.

The main thing is to set the bottom row in a straight line. For this we used a laser level. The seams between the tiles and the holes for the dowels were closed with silicone sealant for outdoor use.

Wall panels are lightweight and quick and easy to fix to the wall. They provide sufficient insulation. The main thing is the presence of a flat surface for their installation. And the observance of the temperature regime for the fixing mixtures.