TL;DR
Lap siding is exterior cladding installed as long horizontal boards, each course overlapping the one below so water sheds down the wall face, the profile spanning traditions from cedar clapboard to modern fiber cement and engineered wood planks. Boards typically run 12 feet or more in lengths of 6- to 8-inch widths, blind-nailed along the top edge into studs, with joints staggered and flashed or gasketed per the maker's instructions.
What it means
Lap siding is exterior cladding installed as long horizontal boards, each course overlapping the one below so water sheds down the wall face, the profile spanning traditions from cedar clapboard to modern fiber cement and engineered wood planks. Boards typically run 12 feet or more in lengths of 6- to 8-inch widths, blind-nailed along the top edge into studs, with joints staggered and flashed or gasketed per the maker's instructions. Its repairability board by board distinguishes it from panel claddings when impact damage or rot appears.
Where it sits in the glossary
Lap siding is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.