Doug fir siding?

[bman]

I got my timber frame stood and am getting closer to closing it in. Am wondering about using doug fir as a siding material either horizontal lap or vertical batt and board finished with a stain/sealer. Location is western OR (wet!) Comments welcome. Thnx bman

[Jim_Rogers]

Unless the siding is totally dry, don't use a film creating sealer.
You don't want to trap moisture in the wood, you want it to dry "out".
Any "breathable" stain or sealer is ok.
If you trap the moisture in then the wood could rot from the inside out.
Good luck with your project.
Jim Rogers

[RoadKill]

You don't say much about drying the siding, sheathing, vapor barriers, etc, so I trust you have a plan for that.  I have a home with Doug Fir siding that has been on since 1939 - I had it sanded to bare wood a few years ago and it is in perfect shape.  I wish I could get more old growth type - it has about 25 rings to the inch.  This is in MA, with tall trees, no sun, and near a pond. Good luck

[srjones]

Hi bman,

Nice to hear about your frame.  Could ya post some pictures maybe?   

Also, could you describe what's going to be behind the siding?  Whatever it is, you might seriously consider spraying a borate solution (Timbor) on the inside and outside of the siding, especially if it's roughcut.

-srj

[bman]

thanks for the replys. The siding will be cut with a chainsaw mill and will be left rough cut and installed green. It will be nailed directly to stud face with 15lb felt underlayment, no sheathing, and then treated with a yet to be determined sealer/stain/preservative. Since I like to utilize as much of a log as possible I am wondering if it is risky to use wood with knots and/or sap wood in the siding planks? Getting knot free wood either means shorter lengths of board as the knots have to be cut out or wasting more of the log to cut around knots. Also will be cutting flat sawn to maximize wood. If I can figure out how to reduce the size of my files I will try and get some pics onto a gallery folder. Thnx bman

[solodan]

If you are worried about the moisture effect on the siding, just don't run the siding all the way down. use a rock or rock facade in the bottom 1/4 or 1/3 of the field. this is where moisture problems almost always occur with siding. If the rock is not the look you want, run the siding  horizontal. this way if a problem ever occurs with the siding, you  would only need to replace the bottom few rows. Lots of buildings  during the Gold Rush and logging boom in California were sided with SugarPine clapboard. most of the buildings, now 150 years later, only need to have the bottom few rows replaced if it has not alkready been done.