Siding in New Britain, CT

Siding in New Britain

New Britain's siding reflects the city's working-class industrial heritage — practical, durable materials chosen for function over aesthetics on the multi-family housing that served the hardware manufacturing workforce. The Broad Street corridor and East Side are lined with three-deckers clad in original wood clapboard that has been covered with asbestos shingle, then aluminum, and in many cases vinyl on top of that — creating triple-layer walls where moisture is permanently trapped. The South End and areas surrounding CCSU have a mix of multi-family and single-family homes where aluminum and first-generation vinyl siding from the 1970s-1980s is past its useful life — chalky, brittle, and providing neither weather protection nor insulation. Walnut Hill and the West End have New Britain's best-maintained siding stock, but even these neighborhoods have homes where 1960s aluminum or early vinyl overlays hide deteriorated original clapboard underneath. New Britain's 44 inches of annual snow, 47 inches of rain, and 85-plus freeze-thaw cycles stress every siding material, and the city's inland elevation means winter wind chill keeps surfaces frozen longer than sheltered valley locations, extending the period when freeze-thaw cycles can work at joints and seams.