Cladding or Boarding (Siding) became common in Finland at the beginning of the 1800s. The oldest type was vertical boarding in the form of either staggered or lathwork cladding. At first the boards and laths were simple, without ornamentation. In Raahe the oldest preserved examples of lathwork cladding are embellished with grooves. Often lathwork cladding is topped with a semicircular frieze, which is usually at least six inches wide. Examples are the Sovelius house, Leufstadius house and the Oinonen house. Later on, vertical boarding and vertical lathwork cladding were relegated to the finishing of ancillary buildings.

Shiplap (tongue and groove) cladding was developed in the early decades of the 19th c. as an imitation of neoclassical stone facades. Shiplap was used in both horizontal and vertical applications. For example, Heikki Sovio’s house and the old building of the first Pharmacist’s.

Patala, Brahenkatu 17. Empire boarding and rustications.

Ruohonen house, Kauppakatu 10. Classisistic horizontal boarding and a rustication.

Wide horizontal siding was first used in classic wooden and Empire style buildings. In Raahe horizontal siding was used in the same way from the 1820s to practically the end of the century. The board is an open-seamed bevel siding. Examples are the Himanka house, the Ruohonen house at Kauppakatu 10, and the Rein house at Brahenkatu 11. Towards the end of the 1800s siding became more decorative, and wall surfaces were divided into areas by different types of mouldings. In different areas the boarding may have been of different types and may have been placed in different directions, vertical and horizontal. In the lower parts the boarding might have been ornamentally framed. Decorative shiplap came into use. The siding on some of the houses in Raahe was given that style repair only in the bottom part of the wall, which is most susceptible to rotting. For example, the Freitag house, the Lang house, Brahenkatu 10.

In the Jugend style siding at the beginning of the 20th c., many types of mouldings are used for boarding the surfaces in different directions. In many cases gable eaves were also decorated.