House without sheathing under siding?
malesse
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I recently discovered that my house (built for $500,000 25 years ago) does not have sheathing under the clapboards except at the corners where two walls come together. Has anyone ever heard of such a technique? It caused me untold headaches when replacing some of the cedar siding because I had to find the studs to nail to. Has anyone ever built this way or seen it done?
Replies
Fairly common
in non-seismic areas to only sheathe the corners. You should be nailing siding to the studs anyway, not to the sheathing.
I saw it on an 1870 house
For the first time I came across a timber framed anitque with no sheeting of any kind. Usually on the old ones I will find board sheeting.
Spans up to 39 inches between the frame. Really something. I was adding a porch to it-started with the entry door. Took out a window and found zip.
Interesting lath job was exposed. The whole thread is here: http://www.quittintime.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/12865/an/0/page/0#Post12865
But here's a shot of that interesting lath. Split as you go-boards. Nail an edge, split it , repeat nailing and splitting.
Wow... I learned something from this thread. Never heard of a no-sheathing house, let alone the corner-only treatment.
Calvin, was that "timber framed" house in a climate that required winter heat?
was that "timber framed" house in a climate that required heat?
Yes sir, end of my driveway (screams lifetime guarantee, don't it). NW Ohio.
Had a couple feet of brick stacked and semi mortered on top of the sills between the rampant framing-rodent control I would guess.
If you take a look at the linked thread you'll get an idea of the expanding scope of the job.
>>>If you take a look at the
>>>If you take a look at the linked thread you'll get an idea of the expanding scope of the job.
Nice work.
That Stihl weedwackjer/screed unit, could you use it for finishing work or is it just for rough leveling?
Thanks
The mini power screed is just that-brings the pour to flat-still have to bull-float and finish.
He may be
somewhere in the midwest or south/southeast.
He's not in L.A.
What do you mean by "no
What do you mean by "no sheathing"? If you simply mean that a fiberboard or foam product was used instead of nail-holding plywood or flakeboard, that's the practice through most of the country, and has been for decades. When nailing siding you've got to know where the studs are.
In older (roughly pre-1940) homes it was not unusual to put the siding directly against the studs. But later homes tended to be sheathed with diagonal wood sheathing, prior to the advent of fiberboard sheathing products.
http://www.amazon.com/CH-Hanson-03040-STUD4SURE-Magnetic/dp/B000IKK0OI/ref=sr_1_1/190-9304651-0458621?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1281458752&sr=8-1
get yourself a mangetic stud finder and it will be easy to find the studs next time you have to do some repairs
Absolutely. Remember, the code only requires shear bracing 4 ft to the corners ... with various exceptions and other acceptable conditions. Also ... shear bracing doesn't have to be solid sheathing. Still legal to do the diagonal bracing ... which a colleague of mine was doing back in the 90's. He found it nice to not have sheathing. Said as he installed siding, it was easier to find the stud location.
Even in earthquake CA, I've seen the sheathing only at the corners and then stucco over everything.
There is a prescriptive shear wall section of the codes (or at least there used to be) that describes the shear corner conditions allowed. It included e.g. no window w/in 4 ft of the corner, but if I recall, you could reduce to 2 ft under some circumstances. There's a lot of material there that gives you options and conditions.