Replies

1. 
   David_Bloomer | Nov 14, 1999 01:13am | #4

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   are you working with tung and grove, spliens dont sound good i would sugest bats over t and g with cauking on joint, proper sized ring nails should hold fine in plyoood or boarding boards. dont forget to snap lines for good nail patterns

1. 
   Ron_Budgell | Nov 14, 1999 06:41am | #5

   *Tongue and groove, shiplap, splined - they're all the same in one respect and that is that the boards are pretty tight edge to edge. I have t+g on the gables of my house and find that the expansion in damp weather is enough to keeep the (casement) windows from working - and the boards never seem to go back to where they were before. I have to get out and put a saw kerf down each side of the windows to relieve pressure and then recaulk. That's a bore after the first time or two, I can tell you. Also, I agree completely with Joe, above, that vertical board is a lot less likely to keep water out than anything else. The labour to install the stuff is pretty tedious, too, because you have to climb the whole height of the installation for every board. It's just no bloody good.

1. 
   Dennis_McNab | Nov 14, 1999 09:58am | #6

   *There are two variations of the system you wish to use that have some degree of popularity in this area,British Columbia,costal rain forest.Board and board ,and board and battentypicaly used in ruarl settings.My feeling is that even though is a simple looking syestem it is decepivly labour intensive to install but can look good in the right circumstance.I've used both and my preference would be board and board.It is easier to accomadate window and door openings because you can have a board aginst the sheating on each side of the opening and have the overlaping board one course over from the opening.Typically the overlap isabout an inch.Don't nail the covering board through the board that is aginst the sheathing nail through the space.And nail the board aginst the shething 1/2-3/4inch from the edge so the top board covers the nail.This also alows for seasonal move ment.Most people don't put in enough horizontal blocking for nailing,I'd go 2ft.O.C.wich is plenty of work right there.The advantage is it does'nt take the same skill to apply that,say bevel siding would and it can look quite nice in the right location,and I does do the job.I would stay right away from shiplap edges because of seasonal movement as mentioned above.In this area red ceader was most popular however there are many 100 year old barns with Douglas Fir on them.This is not a popular style any more mostly because of the labour I think.P.S.It is a good idea to fill the space behind the covering board at the bottom to prevent the entrt of unwanted insect and wild life,more work!

2. 
   Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 01:53am | #7

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   Vertical siding, board and batten, board & board, diagonal siding, 1x4 t&g , its all the same, thousands of funnels trying to channel water from the outside to the inside of your house. If you have a real good designer/architect who has some experience in good details for this , then maybe you can make it work. Most of the houses we've worked on with these style of siding had big rot problems from water penetration.
   Another problem is the nailing system, if you are using board and batten, the board should only be nailed on one edge and the batten clamps the other edge, so the board can expand and contract. If it is nailed on both edges, it will split along its weak points and let more water in. Board and board is harder to nail so it won't split but it's easier to work out window and opening trim details.
   Board and batten worked great for barns because most of them were post and beam so there were naturally horizontal nailers and there were very few horizontal penetrations to intercept water flow. Where there were openings, there were also usually generous overhangs to compensate.
   Vertical/diagonal siding is a nice look , if you like that look, but it is certainly NOT good weather protection.
   But what do I know, we just fix 'em.

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 04:33am | #8

   *Mike - I was interested to read your technique for nailing board and batt siding. I have alway thought that the single nail in the board goes in the center, allowing movement both ways from center. Same principle as you, slightly different technique. I do agree that the batt - nailed between the boards - keeps the board from cupping, that's why you have to put them both on at the same time. - jb

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 06:19pm | #9

   *I have a hard time trying to figure the best way to nail any of the wide siding in vertical and diagonal applications. One thing we do is read the annular rings and try to install bark side out so when the board does cup it will hump out instead of curl up at the edges. Naturally if you could get VERTICAL GRAIN, you could avoid some of these problems. No one is going to waste good CVG on board and batten siding though , so that's not an option. Same problem with shiplap siding, if the mill ran the boards so the annular rings put the pattern bark side in, the board is going to cup and pull the nails right thru the edge. As a general rule of thumb we tryto get the SINGLE nail as close to the edge and still get good meat as we can, sort of like nailing clapboards so the nail just clears the tip of the top edge of the one below it.Red cedar bureau and Western Wood Products have some nailing diagrams, but I can never put my hands on that info. when I need it.

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 07:43pm | #10

   *Well, if you put bark side out, and nail one edge - instead of in the center - that sounds like trouble to me. Seems like a nail in the middle of that board would prevent the cupping, but off to one side...I don't have confidence that board won't cup. I love talkin' about this stuff!

3. 
   Guest_ | Jan 04, 2000 11:33pm | #11

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   Hi Folks:

   We intend to use clapboard siding on the front of our new home, but are intending to use vertical pine on the sides and back. We like the look as well as the expected lower cost. Plan is to use one inch thick boards, random width, with a bead on the edge. We could shiplap the edges, but I'm concerned about the weather penetration. An alternative would be to dado the edges and insert a spline between each. Any thoughts or suggestions out there? Thanks in advance. (If my use of the terms "shiplap" and "dado" are incorrect, please excuse the fact that I'm not a builder, but hopefully you know what I'm talking about.)

   John McGinnis
   Burlington, VT

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 13, 1999 07:52pm | #1

   *Did you put horizontal blocking in your walls to nail the vertical siding to?

1. 
   Guest_ | Nov 13, 1999 09:49pm | #2

   *I believe vertical siding is inherently flawed. The siding is more prone to absorb water and less prone to shed water in vertical applications. Siding shingles with their short lengths and exposed buts solve these inherent problems. Also as JclB (Tex) suggests you must have horizontal nailers before installation of vertical siding. Given the extra movement of vertical siding, reliance on nailing into 1/2 sheeting gaurantees a residng job in the near future. I've never lived in a dry enviroment so my prejudice against vertical siding is based on general situations not necessarily any specific application. Roof overhangs, wall heights, window and door penetrations, grade, climate, etc. all help determine the suitability of siding.Joe

1. 
   Mad_Dog | Nov 14, 1999 12:52am | #3

   *How about battens? What are you going to do to protect the pine?