Melbourne gets an average of 603 millimeters of rain a year, which, while good for people, is bad for buildings. Moisture is pretty much death to healthy houses. In the 1960’s, people started investigating good ways to control moisture and came up with the rain screen. These things go by many names, but they generally describe a system where you build an inner wall and put siding around it, with a space between the siding and the inner wall. This air space lets the house ventilate and keeps the insides dry. You can cover your outer wall with a secondary material, too, and this is called cladding.

Of course, there are many materials that you can use in the outer siding, but capped composite cladding is a particularly good choice. It has many benefits:

1. It looks pretty, which is its own reward. It comes in a variety of shades and finishes, so you have a perfect exterior no matter what your decorating scheme or skill in painting. It has the warm appearance of wood, too.

2. It doesn’t require much maintenance. Wood needs priming and painting, concrete needs touching up, but capped composite materials last decades without much work. You can hose it down for cleanliness now and again just to fight dust.

3. It comes in panels that are easy to install, so you don’t have to spend a lot on contractors.

4. The material is water-resistant. This preserves the exterior and adds an extra layer of moisture protection. It’s also air tight: the cladding only vents where you want it to.

5. It resists fire.

6. There is no worry about toxic chemicals being released in the air when you cut it or being used as a finishing product. It is just generally good for the environment, as it is mostly made out of recycled materials, and its long life means that you aren’t using a lot of resources in keeping up your siding.

7. It resists insects. You don’t have to worry about termites eating away at the exterior of your house, or bees building a nest in the walls.

8. It has nice acoustic properties.

9. Covering a wall over cladding is a quick way to give your place a new look. It gives you a better change than a new coat of paint, and it improves the energy use of your building.