the.com/siding
The armor a house wears so it never has to feel the weather.
means The exterior cladding—boards, panels, or sheets of wood, vinyl, or metal—fastened to a building's outer walls to shield it from weather.
from From the plain old English noun 'side,' the flat outer face of a thing, plus '-ing.' By the 18th–19th century 'siding' had hardened into a builder's term for the material covering a house's sides. (The railway 'siding,' a track set off to the side, is the same 'side' wearing a different hat.)
vinyl debutVinyl siding first appeared in the late 1950s
railroad twinA siding is also a side rail track
fire historyAsbestos siding was sold as fireproof for decades
color trickDark siding can warp from absorbed summer heat
layered defenseReal protection comes from the barrier beneath it