ERC siding & siding in general

[TexasTimbers]

I have all the B&B siding for my house ready to go on. It's 4/4 ERC that I will plane and install immediately with the family applying the exterior uv coating right away, followed with 2 more coats as soon as the directions allow.
That's the back ground. Here's the question:

How thin would you be willing to cut ERC for use as horizontal lap siding, nailed to OSB (SIPs)?

If I decide to go the hortizontal siding route I will be cutting logs in the 8' - 20' range with most in the 12' - 16' lengths, and I'm guessing I'll end up with about a 6" reveal using boards app 7" wide. Maybe less, or I will have that unsightly gap between the top of the underneath board and the bottom of the top board. I did not want to make a siding jig which would alleviate this dilemma but may do so. Until then, I'm thinking that since this siding is not going on top of studs but on a solid nail surface, I could get away with cutting them 5/8" thick which would plane them down to like 9/16" thick, and lay them with only a 3/4" overlap to minimize the space to which I referred.

I will use the board and batten on the many out buildings and my second kiln to come if I think this thin horizontal siding will work. My wife would prefer the horizontal. If we have to use B&B, I have decided to rond over the Batten boards with a 3/4 round over bit giving it a much softer look. At least in my minds' eye i think it will look good. Decisions decisions.

[Larry]

Funny you should ask...I was busy this morning fixing woodpecker holes.  Commercial WRC.




1" thick on the big end, 1/4" thick on the thin end.  Width is 5 1/4".  My orignal WRC siding was 5 1/2" wide.  No idea what the grooves are for...something new.

I cut ERC siding the same way only with 6" width.  I tried rabbits and no rabbits...like the way rabbits fit much better...just seem to be a higher quality of construction.  Also tried 4" and 8" width.  To my eye 6" width looks best with the 4" width a close second.

I've never cut ERC siding for a house...sheds, and garden structures.  The oldest siding I've cut is going on 10 years old and doing fine.

[treebucker]

Larry, the grooves are for (take your choice):
1- to reduce cupping.
2- appearance.

Kevjay, I'm uncomfortable cutting cedar that thin and exposing it to the elements. Even with the planned finish I still feel uneasy. But I'm no expert.  :D Check out some alternative profiles here on pages 5 and 6.  I kinda like the Dolly Varden.

[WDH]

Are you going to plane the horizontal siding or put it up rough sawn?  I have 3/4" rough sawn cypress on my house with a 5" reveal.  I think it looks good.  No bevel or rabbit. 

I would imagine the rough sawn and the planed would have very different looks.

[TexasTimbers]

That looks nice Larry. I don't necessarily mind processing it to that extent, but would rather not if I don't have to.

WDH how bout some pics pretty please. It would really go a long way helping me decide if I like the look. To answer your question whichever way we go, hor or ver, it will be planed. I got to thinking that all i would have to do to plane it would be to lay out two 12' pices of siding on the infeed/outfeed have them meet just prior to or after the planer bed. It would essentially be like my jointing bed except it would allow the siding to pass under the knives at the proper angle. After I plane my first 2 boards I could replace the rough cut ones and have a slicker surface. If i wanted to get real fancy I could cut 2" wide strips of HDPE and round them of a little and have sort of "static rollers" so the planer would not have to work as hard.

treebucker, that's an excellent refernce guide. I thought I knew it all ;) but there is some stuff on there that fills a few voids in my siding knowledge. I am leaning toward that Dolly Varden now and I'll tell you why. The stuff I have already cut for the vertical baord on board siding is dry and shrunk. If I go with horizontal, and it's looking more and more like I will, that DV allows for shrinkage while in service quite nice by virtue of the rabbet and nail placement. This stuff will be coming right off the saw, through the planer, and on the house all the same day, over a 2 -3 day period.

Of course, if I do the 5/8" thickenss with no bevel, I could also nail it the same way and allow for shrinkage, but I don't know how I like the looks of that way unless WDH can post a picture or two ???

treebucker how cme you don't like the idea of thinner siding.

[WDH]

I will post some pics later today .

[TexasTimbers]

Awesome thanks!

[WDH]

Kevin,

Here are the pics that I promised.  The siding on my house is cypress.  It was sawed to 3/4" rough.  It was not planed.  It was pressure treated in a pressure treatment cylinder like is done for pine treated lumber.  Some say cypress will not treat, but the sapwood will.  This is the natural weathered color.  I like it, some don't.  The lap is about 3/4".  The last photo is looking up the wall.  The reveal is 5" to 5 & 1/4".

[DWM II]

WDH, thats looks pretty nice. You said no rabbit, I'm guessing that means your using 3/4 boards 'bout 6'' wide to get your 5'' reveal? Why no rabbit? is there an advantage one way or the other?

[WDH]

Yes, DWM II.  Boards are just about 6" wide.  No reason for there being no rabbet.  Just did it the old fashioned way.  The boards are not tapered or rabbetted.  Just lapped.

[DWM II]

I havent done that before, do you start from the bottom or top? If from the bottom, do you use a spacer 3/4" at the first run?

[WDH]

Start on the bottom, then work up.  It would probably look nicest with a spacer board on the first course to get the angle, but on my house, the first course was put down without any spacers.

This is the old clapboard barn look.  It might look nicer to use a beveled siding with a rabbet if it is not meant to be a rustic look.

[DWM II]

No, I am looking at different rustic ways of doing stuff, and I like that just fine.

[Handy Andy]

  WDH, I like your siding.  Did you make the corners 1 1/2" thick?  Wish we had cypress trees here.  Or cedar. 

[WDH]

The corners are 1 and 1/2 " thick, but they are made up in an "L shape" out of two 3/4" cypress boards (one the full width you see exposed, the second layer only a strip an inch wide to get the full thickness) that wrap around the corner.  The third photos shows how the siding butts up to the corner on the left side of the pic.

[Norm]

That looks very nice WDH but we really need to see the whole house to get a better idea of what it looks like. ;D

I know you're thinking darn nosy neighbors but heck it's Sunday and I know you've been looking for something to do. :D

[TexasTimbers]

WDH,

My lovely wife is sitting here looking at your lovely siding and she says "Is that a rock wall!? Can we do that too?" So thanks alot pal!

I vetoed that request but you sold us on the non-tapered siding. We don't see a thing in the world wrong with it. We are still going to plane ours because the urethane will go alot further than the rough soaking it up, but with the one angle there where you shot from underneath there is no appreciable gap.

We both thank you for the pictures. The only other thing we would ask is that you come put on the siding on at least the first half of the house so we know what we are doing. ;D

[WDH]

OK Norm, I will take a pic of the "whole house".

Kevin,

That rock wall was a labor of many years.  It is natural flint that was removed from the fields many many years ago.  There were old piles of it in the woods, so I hauled it, cleaned it, and put it up lovingly one stone at a time.  In most places, it is only about 3' high on the block from the foundation.  However, I added on in 1993. and decided to do stone on 1/2 the wall on the addition.  A huge undertaking.  In fact, I did not completely finish it until last spring :.

[Don K]

Donnie, That is the same method I used on my little shed that I sawed out and built. I used 1X8's and lapped 1 1/2" I believe to allow for shrinkage. I have a picture my wife took in my gallery. I made to little wood jigs to get the spacing right. I started with a flat board at the bottom and then started the lap. I used full cut 2X4's on the corners and it has a nice reveal. I will go take some pics to post. 

Don

[WDH]

OK.  A couple more pics.  Here is a shot of the back end with the stone wall and siding.


Here is a shot of the front.  As you can see, I live in the woods :.

The front porch is 40' by 12'.  However, nothing fancy.  The rustic siding fits in with the surroundings, definitely not a suburban thing .

[WDH]

Don,

by all means.........pics! pics! 

[Norm]

Very nice! 

What a beautiful setting WDH, I really like it.

[Don K]

I made a few closeups of my siding. 


This a closeup of where the 1x's meet the 2X4 corners.

A shot of the siding by a door and one of the front corner. See the first flat board on bottom?

Here is the jig to get the spacing the same. Eliminates a tape measure on every board. I had two so we could do both ends.
Don

[TexasTimbers]

Thanks Don. Is that also cypress?

That is the same basic jig I have always used to install Hardi Plank and 12" masonite. Works great.

I like the corners.

[Don K]

SYP that I salvaged from our land after Ivan.