Shiplap has recently become a household name as a style of interior wall paneling.

Shiplap is a versatile profile.

It can be installed tight or it can be slightly spaced or gapped, making the lines more visually prominent. It is rabbeted in opposite directions on each edge, so that boards overlap when installed, while still lying flat. In a no-frills shiplap pattern, this creates the look of a row of planks, without leaving openings to the wall cavity.

Making a thin gap between boards is sometimes referred to as Nickel-Gap. While this can be achieved manually using standard shiplap, the popularity of this look has led to some items being made available with a nickel-gap built into the profile, so that boards can be butted tight and still have a nickel-thickness reveal. This reveal is usually 1/8” but sometimes as much as 3/8” (that’s some nickel!)

Channel siding is similar to nickel-gap, only the reveal is wider, usually 7/8” to 1-1/4”. This creates an inverted board-and-batten appearance. A popular form of channel siding is Channel Rustic, in which the boards (usually cedar, sometimes pine) are knotty-grade and roughsawn-finished.

Novelty siding – also known as Dutch Lap, Cove, or Pattern 105 – is similar to a channel pattern except the reveal is scalloped or curved instead of being a square inset. It’s a variation of Drop Siding which is any such pattern where an angle or curve is used to shape the reveal.

Log Cabin siding is based on a shiplap pattern and can be configured with or without a flat reveal – but its main characteristic is the protruding quarter-log belly that creates the appearance of classic log cabin walls.