Suggestions for vertical siding

[thechknhwk]

I'm looking to mill up my dead ash trees and make them into some type of vertical siding.  Thinking board and batten or reverse board and batten.  I was wondering if anyone has pictures for examples of what I can do along with a brief explanation on milling and installation.  Thanks for your input if ya got any ;D

[beenthere]

Not sure if this helps, but just make "same thickness" boards and battens. You will need cross nailers to nail/screw to, and usually put nails or screws (I prefer screws) in the centers of the boards to reduce splitting from shrinkage. Some like the looks of random width and that would give more yield from your logs.

How is your outside wall constructed now?

[Ron Wenrich]

Here's my house with board and batten:



Its probably different than what you are thinking.  The house is circa 1850 and is of Gothic design  (so I'm told).  Its a post and beam house.  The boards are nailed to anything that will hold a nail, and quite often those spans may be 4-6'.  But, when I redid the house, I put some nailers in where I could.  Some of the walls had soft brick in them for insulation.

This style uses a 10" and wider type of board, and the battens are 2½" wide and 3/4" thick.  Mine is all pine, as was the original siding.  The battens are the same size as the original.  The widths are random, just like off the mill. 

I used the same design on some new construction and on the old summer house, which I connected to the house.  The summer house had diagonal boards under the old clapboard.  I changed it over to board and batten.

If you're using ash, I might think about drilling the holes, as ash is prone to splitting.

[timbuck2]

I would re-think the ash thing, must be some softwood available around there.  Random width works fine, 1 inch, battens less, so it doesn't look blocky.

[brendonv]

How much different are the sizes of random width you guys see?  Inches different, like 6", 8", 10".  Or smaller differences of half inches?

[thechknhwk]

I was going to cut my material 3/4" thick.  Some of my logs may only yield a 6" wide board, but some a bit larger perhaps up to 10".  
Then I have some that I haven't cut down yet that might get me 12"ers, which I could make into 6".  I was going to cut the battens @1/2" by thick by 1" wide so I don't create too much depth on the walls around the windows and doors.  I am using ash because all of my ash trees are dead and dry.  They also seem to have a pretty good degree of rot resistance from what I have seen of logs that have laid on the ground for years and are still solid.  My exterior wall construction is tricky at best.  The garage is stick framed with 1/2 celotex on it.  I figured I would cut the celotex in spots in order to install perlins.  The house is virtually the same except I believe it has 1" foam on the outside so I would do the same there except using 1" thick perlins.  I don't know if any of this sounds like a good idea?  .

[west penn]

  I did my porch on the front of my house and used reverse batten. I personally think it makes a much nicer looking job and if you have a shaper it is less sawing and better looking. wish I could send pics  but haven't mastered that yet.  It is basicly a shiplap with one side cut about a half inch and the other about two inches. when you put them together it appears as though the batten is on the back side. looks good and is actually less work.

[beenthere]

thechknhwk
What size are your logs that you think will yield 10" boards?

I think you need to do a lot of careful planning both from the log to board thoughts, as well as the house siding application. Your idea of cutting into the insulation to add purlins sounds iffy as well as the thickness around windows and doors. But there may be a way to "skin the cat".

[jueston]

like west penn said, i really like reverse board and batton. its simple to mill and install, its just a shiplap with a gap, and i think it looks really good.

[Ron Wenrich]

I used white pine, because that was historically correct.  The original was pine and was still in good shape after 150 years.  Rot resistance really isn't a factor if your siding is off the ground.  I replaced it because the siding did have some splits and was weathered pretty badly on the south side of the house.

A 1" wide batten isn't very wide.  You're using that to cover the gap between 2 boards.  I didn't have a joiner, so some of my gaps were wide at spots.  I foamed and caulked the joints to help in keeping air out.  I also planed all my wood.  A lot easier to put on paint.

If your logs are that small, you're may have problems with the wood being at the juvenile stage.  Sounds like its pretty small logs.  Juvenile wood isn't quite as stable as the slower growing wood in the later stages.  Think how those 2x4s look in at Lowe's that are twisted beyond use.  They usually are juvenile wood. 

In my case, I was looking for coverage and reveal.  That's why I used the wider board.  I don't like the look of small reveal or small battens, but maybe that's just me.  Have you considered going to a live edge siding on the horizontal?  That may be a good use those narrow boards.  Here's an example:

[thecfarm]

I used all 10 inch boards and 4 inch batten on a horse run in.

[jander3]

 

[beenthere]

jon
Brrr! That looks like one of the cooler seats in town.  ;D

[scsmith42]

I typically use random width for the boards, 1" thick, and 3/4" x 3" for the battens.  Most of mine have been rough sawn, but the last one was planed as per Arky's recommendation, and it really came out nice.

Here is a horse run-in shed with live edge horizontal siding on top, and board and batten on the bottom.  It is SYP, and rough sawn.






Same thing on this barn:






This is the one that was planed and stained. 

[Brad_S.]

 I used 10" pine boards with 2 1/4 battens on these buildings. I allowed the wood to dry before putting it up and I cut the battens from dry lumber so I could use the boards under 10" width and also because even pine tended to bow and warp as they dried when cut that narrow.

[beenthere]

The b&b siding certainly transformed those buildings into some very presentable ones.  8)

[ljmathias]

I used the opposite of some of the examples above- live edge horizontal on the bottom at the gable ends plus vertical B&B above- lots easier to cut the angles at the top for the small boards vertical than for longer ones horizontal... at least for me. Also I used a good stain/sealer on both sides than after it was all up, added a clear coat acrylic to preserve and keep the carpenter bees at bay.

Lj

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Lj is that the place you are building for your daughter mate ??

[thechknhwk]

LJ - I like what you have got there.  Are those tapered siding type cuts or just live edge slab wood?  I know I have read on here about not needing to use a siding jig or make a tapered cut, but I'm not sure exactly how that works?

[ljmathias]

Meadows: yup, that's the place.  Turning out nice...  Let me know when you're around these parts again, you can stop by and take a look- inside is turning out nice, too.

No taper on the siding I used- can't see that it's worth the extra time even if it saves you a bunch of wood.  The nice thing about using flat siding is that you have better dimensional stability (maybe- my opinion anyway).  Also, there's more wood holding around the screws.  Also, it's not hard to cut at all once you figure out how to prep your logs for the through and through cutting to get the stack of siding.  Variations in width don't matter much as long as they're all within a couple of inches of your target- bigger is ok, thinner isn't as it will not cover the board underneath enough to hide the screws...

Lj