Replies

1. 
   Notchman | May 12, 2006 06:09am | #1

   I've seen it installed on a diagonal.  The main thing when installing other than vertically is to have the tongues pointing up so the joint can shed water.

    

2. 
   MikeSmith | May 13, 2006 03:31pm | #2

   guaranteed to leak... no way it can't..

   like installing  thousands of mini-gutters on the side of a house ..

   each gutter looking for a bad joint, a missing knot, or a piece of horizontal trim to get into the sheathing and framing

   just another bad idea that should never have been adopted

   Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
1. 
   ronbudgell | May 13, 2006 05:18pm | #3

   I second Mike's opinion. I have torn it off and seen the damage.

   But that was installed tight to the sheathing with no rain screen, just scutan tar paper. Worthless crap.

   Put your siding on over a rainscreen. Backprime the stuff, add an air gap between the siding and the sheathing and it will last twice as long anyway.

   Ron

2. 
   basswood | May 13, 2006 05:23pm | #4

   Could you felt the house as a drainage plane, add vert. 1x2 firring 16" OC, then diagonal t&g siding? That might keep the house dry, if someone really wants that look.

3. 
   hammer1 | May 13, 2006 06:28pm | #5

   We did this place many years ago, you can tell by the Craftsman slider, the first of it's kind, late 70's? Diagonal T&G on the gables, vertical on side wall, 15# felt, leaked terribly. Haven't and won't do it again.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

4. 
   jeffcol323 | May 15, 2006 06:29pm | #6

   Thanks all for your input. Thinking about it logically, it does seem like a bad idea. I had considered the rainscreen/furring approach but my customer likes to do everything on the cheap and is hoping to replace only about 1/3 of the wall. This approach would probably eliminate furring and even with a rainscreen (which I 've never actually used) I don't know if I could blend it in to the rest of the building. This area certainly doesn't need a vertical joint running top to bottom. I'm thinking he will have to bite the bullet and do the whole side, either vertically or horizontally!

1. 
   todd | May 15, 2006 08:18pm | #7

   A few years ago I wanted to buy a house and looked at one with diagonal siding. Seemed like a bad idea and I thought it looked like hell anyway. Things weren't much better on the inside. Apparently a nasty divorce, baseball bat thru hollow core doors, busted tile, bad karma.Getting ready to leave the site and a large tree fell down, just missing my car. Kind of sealed the no deal.Todd

5. 
   DanH | May 15, 2006 08:29pm | #8

   The basic problem with diagonal T&G is that water will run down the joints and find any sort of defect near the tongue that allows water through. When installed horizontally these defects have a trivial effect, but diagonally they can channel a lot of water behind the siding.

   If the siding was installed carefull, discarding any pieces with substantial tongue defects, and carefully caulking or othewise dealing with minor defects and splits, and avoiding butt joints, then it wouldn't be a problem. But how many contractor types are that careful?

   Note that lap siding isn't as susceptable to problems when installed diagonally, though any butt joint needs special attention (eg, flashing behind the joint).

   If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison

   
   

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   Edited 5/15/2006 1:31 pm by DanH