Better Battens for Open-Joint Siding
Benjamin Obdyke redesigned their polypropylene Batten UV furring strips to give more flexibility and durability to rainscreen siding installations.
Open-gapped wood siding is showing up on more and more houses lately as homeowners increasingly embrace modern and eclectic design styles. Wood species and finish are likely the first choices someone will make when including this type of siding in a project, but the materials behind the cladding are the most important things to get right if you want the wall to hold up to the elements. Benjamin Obdyke obviously had this in mind when they redesigned their popular Batten UV furring strips, a key component in the company’s collection of open-joint cladding solutions, which also includes InvisiWrap UV housewrap and HydroFlash UV+ flashing tape.
The new battens are made of the same UV stable polypropylene as Benjamin Obdyke’s original battens, so the improvements are primarily due to their redesigned shape. Instead of channeling water and air through closed channels like the previous model, the new Batten UV furring strips have open troughs flanked by notched ribs, which means you can install them in any orientation—even horizontally—with no obstruction to drainage or airflow. Plus, because only the narrow ribs contact the back of the cladding, the siding has more surface area exposed to the rainscreen, allowing the assembly to dry more evenly than with solid battens.
The battens are 3/8-in. thick, 1-3/4-in. wide and come in 8-ft. lengths. A carton of 400 linear feet costs $456.
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