I’m building a home for one of my clients who wants board and batten siding, The boards are 1×12’s and the battens are 1×4’s. The house was framed with vertical blocking 2 feet on center between the studs to provide nailers for the siding. Not having ever done a house with B&B siding, I have several questions. 1) What type of fasteners would be recommended? 2) What type of nailing pattern should I use to deal with board movement and minimize splitting? 3) Should the boards be spaced 1/8th inch apart or can they be butted to each other? . It might help to know that the home is in southwestern Colorado which has a very dry climate. Thanks for any input.
CJ
Replies
The dry climate is good. you don't say how dry or green the lumber is. That wil affect the spacing question. Green or nearlyu so should be placed tightly together.
The battens are normally a bit narrowwer than 1x4 andf that has to do with the nail pattern. The historical method is to nail up the boards with one nail in the center and then nail the batten over the lap of both with one nail in the center of it. That way, the batten is holding the edges of the main board in place and preventing them from warping out ( cupping) while allowing them toi slide under the batten for shrinaage and swelling. With a 1x4, instead of a 1x2, I would be concerned that the edges of the batten would cup out
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I'm also in Western Colorado and in my neighborhood 90% of the houses have some board and batten.
Piffen's nailing pattern is spot on. DO NOT nail either the board or batten with two nails spaced horizontally. In our dry climate wood only goes in one direction between the mill and its ultimate stable state- it shrinks. I have seen several houses,all less than four years old, where the sider shot both the board and batten with two nails side by side every 24" or so vertically. Twenty percent of of the boards and battens have butt ugly two foot long splits in them.
1X4 battens are quite common here, and cupping does not seem to be a problem.
Stainless steel nails are nice, and maybe 15% of the houses here use them, but IMO not necessary out here.
I would strongly recommend that the boards be stained with at least one coat before installation. If staining is done after installation, later shrinkage will show ugly bare wood on the boards.
Your framer may have engaged in overkill in putting in blocking to accommodate siding. I see B&B siding installed nailed only into tyvec coated OSB. I accept this as satisfactory. I'm going to build our next house out of SIPs and there ain't nothing BUT OSB to fix the siding to.
Chris
I'd recommend galv spiral deck nails to secure the boards and battens - what Piffin said in regards to pattern - I commend the framer for providing blocking - my experience in the midwest is that wood movement provides lots of energy to pop the fasteners -
butt the boards and try to hit the crack when you secure the battens - for a more refined look, bevel the battens @ 60* on the tablesaw and make sure the 'heart' side of the board is out (helps minimize cupping)
another tip - rather than arbitrarily starting the boards and cutting around doors and windows, stand a board up either side of each opening and then fill in the remaining space - adjust the width of the boards to come out even - makes for a nice clean symetric appearance --
Thanks Piffin, ChrisB, and DavidxDoud for your input on my questions about Board and Batten siding. The material I'm using is prestained S1S2E cedar, rough side out.
CJ