Board and Batten Siding. Board and Batten Siding. Before we bought our cabin, my wife and I visited the wine country of northern California. While there, we stayed in a terrific, cozy, barn- modern style cottage that became a big part of our inspiration to buy a cabin. A big part of the the charm of this cottage was its’ traditional board and batten style siding. Looking to bring some of that charm to our new cabin project in Minnesota, we decided on board and batten siding for our our exterior wall rebuild.

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Board and batten siding has its roots in Norway and Sweden, where it was originally used to protect the exterior of log buildings. The siding became a popular siding on homes and barns in the Western United States during the mid to late 1. Id Tech 1 Collection Fix 321. Today, board and batten siding has regained popularity, especially with the rise of modern rustic architecture styles in the United States. Vacation cottage in Northern California with board and batten siding. How to Board and Batten. Board and batten siding is fairly simple siding system of gaped wide vertical boards with narrow overlying vertical battens to cover the gaps.

EXTERNAL CLADDING TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION MAy 2014 3 The Heritage profile is a double width board that allows faster wall coverage. The Heritage and Chamfer profiles. James Hardie Product Overview Application Product Page Bathroom constructions Bracing Building wrap Columns Structural flooring Cavity construction Commercial facades. Choosing A Material For Your Siding. Board and batten siding can be constructed from a variety of materials. Wood, engineered wood products, fiber cement boards. While I strongly prefer using individual tongue and groove beaded boards to create beadboard finishes, manufactured panels do offer speed and cost savings. Using vinyl beadboard soffit for porch ceilings is a great way to add style and performance in an outdoor environment.

The technique is time- tested, durable, easy to repair and allows for the natural expansion and contraction of the siding material. While traditional board and batten siding uses wider boards and overlying narrower battens, there are multiple variations of the traditional narrow over wide technique.

Reverse board and batten or batten and board, for example, installs wider boards over narrow battens. Board and board just alternates overlapping wide boards with no battens. Traditional board and batten siding in steps: Install wide vertical boards (typically 6. Fasten battens between boards to cover gaps and hold down board edges while still allowing them to move. Board and batten siding diagrammed: Board and batten siding is made up of wider vertically installed boards with overlapping narrower battens.

Nailing allows boards to move as needed. The Nitty Gritty of Board and Batten Siding. When installing board and batten siding, or any vertical siding, you will have to deal with the challenge of fastening vertical boards to a vertical stud wall. Boards installed up and down (vertically) do not regularly intersect stud framing members like horizontally laid boards do. Traditionally, this problem was addressed by adding horizontal framing pieces (blocking) between the vertical studs. While this method works, installing blocking is a lot of work and may be impractical for remodeling work. Blocking also reduces the space in the wall cavity for insulation and can make it hard to run wires and plumbing in walls.

Alternatively, you can beef up the sheathing of the wall and fasten the siding to the sheathing instead of the studs. To do this, you will need to use sufficiently thick sheathing – at least 1 1/4. I used thicker plywood sheathing that I could fasten the siding to without having to install framing blocks. This thickness plywood is more than thick enough to hold the screws I planned to use to attach the siding. It was also a huge structural upgrade for my exterior walls. With this plywood, I used deck screws as fasteners.

Screws work well, especially if driven into plywood sheathing of 1/2. Nails will also work, but you will need much thicker sheathing for sufficient hold. Fasteners for Board and Batten Siding  Nails Screws fasten toat least 1 1/4. Use exterior grade ring- shank or spiral shank style nails for siding. Nails should also be compatible with the specific wood species you are using. Some woods will react with certain fasteners causing discoloration at the fastener site.

Stainless steel or hot- dipped galvanized nails are typically the best choices. Many siding nails will have specially designed tips to help prevent splitting of the siding. Nails will need to be long enough to pass through the siding and into a solid wood substrate at least 1 1/4.

Remember to add length for any material (like furring strips or rain screen mat) between the siding and sheathing. Microsoft Security Essentials Vs Nod32 Antivirus on this page. I used screws for this project. If you plan to use screws, look for an exterior grade screw (stainless or coated) compatible with the wood species you will be using. Most deck screws will work well. I used Deck. Mate deck screws (green color) purchased locally from the home depot.

Screws need to be long enough to pass through the siding and into a suitable (solid wood or plywood) substrate 1/2. If using 1/2. Fastener lengths need to consider the thickness of the siding boards and any material (rain screen membrane or furring strips) between the siding and the sheathing. For my project, my screw lengths were based on: siding and batten 1. Wood, engineered wood products, fiber cement boards, polymer (vinyl) products are all suitable for board and batten.

Of these, fiber cement boards and wood are excellent choices, and both have advantages and disadvantages. Cement board products (Hardie. Panel, etc.) have the advantages of concrete; low maintenance, long life, dimensional stability and moisture and fire resistance. Natural wood boards have the advantages of wood; natural beauty, the ability to take a stain, improved sound and thermal insulation and easy of cutting and installation. Cement board products also have the disadvantages of concrete; heavy weight, difficult to cut and install, silica dust formation when cutting, and an artificial look. Wood products have the disadvantages of wood; dimensional instability, tenancy to crack or split, need for repeat staining, susceptibility to woodpeckers, insects and rot, and the lack of fire resistance.

Despite the compelling advantages of cement board products, I chose natural cedar for my board and batten siding. To improve the lifespan of the finish and to save time, I ordered prefinished cedar siding.

Cedar offers the advantages of natural wood but is also naturally resistant to insects and rot due to the extracts in cedar. The Huge Advantages Of Pre. Finished Siding When using natural wood as a siding material, one of the biggest challenges is protecting the wood from moisture and rot. While several species of wood have naturally enhanced protection against moisture and decay, and perform satisfactorily when installed unfinished, most will benefit from an applied stain or paint. If you are planning to apply a finish to wood siding, follow best practices and finish all six sides of your boards. In addition, if you plan to use a solid color stain or paint, you should first apply at least one coat of a suitable primer before finishing the boards.

Properly applied finishes take time. Applying a coat or two of primer, allowing it to dry and then applying a coat or two of finish is a long process.

Not only is this time- consuming, but the quality of the finish is very dependent on the conditions, tools, products and process used to apply any primer or finish. So, how can you improve the quality of your finish and save tons of time? Buy your wood siding prefinished. Yes, it may cost more (maybe), but for many of us, it is more than worth it. I found the price of ordering prefinished fairly competitive with the cost of what I could get the unfinished wood for locally. My cost for 1. I haven’t priced prefinished material lately, but even if it is priced a buck or so a foot more, you will have to think long and hard about finishing it yourself.

A load of 1. 0. You will need to prime and paint cut ends, but that is easy. The supplier I ordered from also recommends a field coat of finish after the product is installed. Again, a fairly easy step – especially when compared to painting rough cedar from scratch. The field coat also provides the benefits of sealing over your fasteners. In addition to the time- saving benefits of prefinished siding, you will have the durability of a top quality finished applied under perfect factory conditions typically by sophisticated finishing machinery. I ordered my prefinished cedar from Cedar Shingles Direct of Wyoming, Michigan.