House
Many houses are made with a wooden "frame" or skeleton. On the outside of the frame, to keep out the weather, rows of flat boards are nailed, which overlap each other so that the rain cannot come in. Walls like this are called "clapboard" or "weatherboard". Clapboard houses are generally painted to preserve the timber. In England and some parts of the United States, they are nearly always painted white. In Australia where "weatherboard" houses are very common, they are usually painted in bright colours. In England and Australia, clapboard houses are usually quite small, but in the United States there are very many grand mansions that are built in this way.