Installation Hemlock Board and Batten
Looking to side our cabin with hemlock board and batten. this will also be used to side a future home next or attached to it.
There seems to to be many contradictory ways to do it: nail 8″ boards tight together, 6″ batts, ,,, 3″ space on 8″ board, and 6″ batts, or narrow batts on whatever size board, etc etc.
Then we get to nailing patterns, lots of nails, or screws, or only a few, one per board, one per batt.
So how does one decide which is the best to use for long life and low maintenance, and how can the install methods be so seemingly contradictory?
We expect to do horizontal furring strips on all of the walls as the building is old, cobbled together by farmers over the years.
Another concern is that the siding is currently right down to the flashing on the slab, ground level exposure. We want it unpainted, natural aged color.
Replies
This may take some time, be patient.
Edit. Do you have any pictures you can post?
Have you tried the search function here?
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/?s=Board%20and%20batten%20siding&es%5Bchannel%5D%5Band%5D%5B0%5D=how-to
In my area I’d have to say that barns are just about the only place I’ve seen it.
On thing that stands out, pay detail to the bottoms of the siding. Your mention of it hitting a slab. In addition to flashing, sealing your end grain and/or perhaps raising the siding bottom, installing a kick out “flashing” to keep the bottom up.
And perhaps a water table …….maybe pvc…….
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/?s=Water+table
I included a cedar water table where our house siding bottomed out at the exposed block foundation. This has done well especially on the stepped foundation going down the hill.
I did do a search and I see what seems to be one way to do things and another that dismisses it as it pertains to board placement, gaps, or no gaps. The guy who will install says, boards tight together and then a 6" batten, so double coverage. Seems wasteful and it is not what other people insist is important, a gap for expansion.
I had not heard of water table, but it makes sense. How high could/should a water table go to raise the material above constant water exposure? It does not sound like it would be very attractive, a water table all the way around the base of the walls. If it is needed, then maybe this is the wrong siding to use.
As for sealing ends of the material, (I did see this posting) so this will protect it from rotting?
I do not have any pics but can get some tomorrow.
"In my area I’d have to say that barns are just about the only place I’ve seen it." "It" means what? I am not sure what you mean.
True board and batten. Not often seen here in NW Ohio.
T-111 is / was prevalent as a faux reverse board and batten.
6” batten would be wasteful .
Most b +b I have seen is maybe 12” wide, gap of a half inch then a 1-1/2 batten nailed between the wide boards, allowing width movement of the wide boards.
A water table at the bottom would look like a basebd. Mock up something and you decide. Done well, might be fine. Done not well, might look bogus.
Holding end grain up off a well draining slab an inch and sealed well might last a long time. If it ever absorbed water it probably would fail eventually. If you could make up a small pvc “water table” that would shed water (sloped) and sealed the siding sitting on it, you might win the rot war.
Or,
Do what some do.
Faux stone panels below your siding…….approx. 4 ft . Cap/ water table to top of the stone, then your b+b above.
I’m not an architect nor designer. Just a dumb retired carpenter that’s seen a lot and remembered some of it.
Board and batten is fairly common here in Vermont on older barns and even newer sheds and small barns. My main barn has shiplap vertical siding, and for the 12 x 30' addition I built, as well as the 24' x 24' shed I built, I did B&B. I used green1x10s (Eastern White Pine) with 3" battens. My local sawyer friends say that 2 1/2" batten are more common, but I wanted to be sure any board shrinkage would still be covered. The main concern with fastening is to make sure the boards can shrink in width without ripping the fasteners out, while still holding the boards firmly. In my case I used grey coated exterior screws, which blended into the siding as it greyed. I applied 2 per board width 3" apart (1 1/2" from the center each). That firmly attached them and the batten screws went right between the boards so they didn't resist board movement while shrinking. The battens prevented any severe cupping of the siding too. Both buildings are still very tight, the siding shrinkage has been minimal because I stickered them (summertime) for a few weeks before installing them. Even on the south side where the sun caused more shrinkage there's only a 3/8"-1/2" gap between boards. 2 1/2" battens would have worked fine. A couple of things about hemlock: it's fairly rot resistant, more so than pine, but for vertical siding it won't matter much. Hemlock is much heavier than pine and more prone to splitting, so harder on the back and possibly more time pre-drilling for fasteners. My local sawyers charge the same for hemlock, spruce, and pine.
When I built a few SIP houses with a friend in Colorado, he introduced me to 'reverse' board & batten. We ripped 3" wide strips of 1/4" plywood and nailed these under and between the boards with some filter fabric at the bottom to prevent insects from infiltrating. His reasoning was that battens always dry and crack more than the boards. We used a 1" spacing between boards and nailed on either side about 12"o.c. Personally, I like the look better than regular B&B, and it's held up well for 20 years. It looks sorta like T-111. (Pardon the pics, they're off maps).
I like the look better than B&B too. I need to reside my barn sometime soon. It's vertical shiplap which has shrunk enough to be an issue, particularly on the south side, so I've decided on shiplap, but with a modern twist. My stepson owns a saw mill and we have a 9 acre wood lot on this property with a 3 acre section of Eastern White Pine, which we thought of harvesting for the siding. His farm, 225 acres, has some pine, but he doesn't want to harvest it. That part probably won't happen (age, ambition, etc), so most likely purchase in early Spring from a nearby friend's mill and stickering it until Fall when it will have dried and shrunk a good bit (the 1" per year air drying doesn't apply to softwoods, they dry much faster). That gives me the Summer to do all the other stuff to the barn to get it ready. I've decided to use a black WRB from 475 called Fronta Quattro which will be invisible behind the siding if any gaps open up. You can have gaps up to 1 3/8" with this 3 layer UV resistant WRB, which I don't know I would trust in the long term, but for my use it's a little extra insurance in case slight gaps appear. I'll still mill the siding with a shiplap and install it tightly, but just in case. I'm also using Coravent rain screen, plastic 7/16" thick drain-through battens made for vertical siding.
Since you will be making the boards try to quarter saw the logs. The boards you get will be more stable than flat sawn. You will need more logs but the siding will be less likely to split.
The OP didn’t say they are “making the boards” (nor did I), and good luck quarter sawing pine boards, a huge waste of wood to get too-narrow boards for siding. In one of my posts I mentioned using 1 x 10s, can you picture how large a tree would have to be to get quarter sawn 1 x 10s? :-) In both of my buildings with 1 x 10 plain-sawn pine, virtually no cupping.
We do a lot of board and batten with all types of material. For green hemlock, we nail the edges of the boards leaving a 1/2-1” gap between them. Then we add 2 1/2” battens nailed down the center in the gap. Seems to allow the boards to shrink without splitting. If we are going right over sheathing, we will use Obdyke HydroGap. If we need furring, we use T-111 ripped into strips the 4’ way and put on backwards to maintain the drainage plane.
There seems to be a lot more responses lately, like this one above, to real questions from real people that are simply copied AI answers. Here's what Google's AI says (look familiar?):
For successful hemlock board and batten siding installation, install boards tightly or with a 3" gap, covering gaps with battens; nail boards and battens centered, avoiding the board edges; use furring strips for ventilation; ensure siding is above flashing; and allow for wood movement.
Here's a more detailed breakdown of best practices for hemlock board and batten siding:
1. Board Installation:
Spacing: Install boards either tightly or with a 3" gap between them.
Battens: The battens should be installed over the gaps between the boards, covering them completely.
Plumb and Level: Ensure boards are installed plumb and level.
2. Nailing:
Board Nailing:
Nail boards with one centered nail per board, avoiding nailing through the edges.
Batten Nailing:
Nail battens with one nail per batten, also centered, and not through the underlying boards.
3. Furring Strips:
Purpose: Use furring strips for ventilation and to ensure proper stability.
Placement: Install furring strips horizontally, allowing for ventilation behind the siding.
4. Flashing:
Placement: Ensure the bottom edge of the siding is installed above the flashing to prevent moisture damage.
5. Wood Movement and Climate:
Expansion and Contraction:
Hemlock, like other wood, will expand and contract with changes in temperature and moisture.
Gaps:
Leaving small gaps between boards allows for this natural movement without causing problems.
Climate Considerations:
Consider the local climate when determining the best spacing and nailing practices.
Securing:
While allowing for expansion, ensure the siding is securely fastened to the structure.
6. Natural Aging:
Graying: Unpainted hemlock will naturally age to a gray color.
Maintenance: Consider the natural aging process when planning for future maintenance.
Yup,
many more attempts since the multimedia giant bought out FHB.
Sad.
But hey, for those that like it, there’s more babe pictures on the page……
Ha! :-)
Creative Painter can’t be real, it reads as an A-eye response.
And since A-eye is supposed to be the real answer, what is a dumb carpenter to think?
Now you have to wonder……
Yep, AI crap.
Well, it appears the painter pulled out early and took his posts down.
If he’d been around here 15 years ago his pants would have been on fire.
Well that was easy. :-)