Fiber cement siding

Siding

Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....

 (or "fibre cement cladding" in the UK and Australasia) is a building material used to cover the exterior of a building in both commercial and domestic applications.
Fiber cement is a composite material made of sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

, cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

 and cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

 fibers. In appearance fiber cement siding most often consists of overlapping horizontal boards, imitating wooden siding

Siding

Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....

, clapboard

Clapboard (architecture)

Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...

 and imitation shingles

Roof shingle

Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...

. Fiber cement siding is also manufactured in a sheet form and is used not only as cladding but is also commonly used as a soffit

Soffit

Soffit , in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element...

 / eave lining and as a tile underlay on decks and in bathrooms.

Fiber cement siding is not only used as an exterior siding, it can also be utilized as a substitute for timber fascias and barge boards in high fire areas.
Sheet sizes vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer but generally they range between 2400 – 3000 mm in length and 900 –1200mm in width (600 & 450 mm increments).