Matchboard

Matchboard is a type of wooden board that connects with others using a tongue and groove or a half lap system.

Bramble Cottage on Lundy Island, weathered cedar matchboarding in an exposed location

Matchboarding has been used for both decorative wooden panelling indoors and also as outdoor cladding. The edge joints of matchboard are more waterproof than a crude butt joint and they also act to stabilise the board edges against warping.

Matchboard was most popular in the late Victorian period, when woodworking machinery had developed that could cut the edge joints quickly and cheaply. In the 1930s, further developments in glues and veneer-cutting machinery made plywood affordable. This also gave a cleanly smooth-surfaced Modernist look that suited the taste for new styles. Matchboard then became much less popular. In the 1970s there was a resurgence of interest in the style as a retro feature, but this was usually provided, for cost reasons, as a faux matchboard effect pressed into the surface of a plywood board.

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