Wood siding maintenance

[bigshow]

I have fairly large and expansive gable ends on my house.  I've been debating on what to side it with.  Board and batten has long been what my wife and I have wanted to go with.  I was thinking that maybe Hardiepanel was the way to go...until i saw the lengths it comes in...8ft - cant get the 10' in my area - still not tall enough anyways.  Breaking up the board and batten every 8 or 10' doesnt look good..not all all (when the peak is 24 ft tall).  So, I can get white pine at my desired lengths at a fair price locally.  If I stain all 4 four sides of white pine - what kind of maintenance am I looking at?  I live in the midwest - extreme summers and extreme winters.  Any thoughts are alternative thinking would be greatly appreciated....

[Rooster]

Are you going to use 1x4 naillers on the outer SIPs to give an air-space for the siding?  Or are you not worried about trapping moisture behind the siding?  Overlapping the siding at the tie-beam, is how many barns have been sided for ages...and gives good protection to the elements.  Future applications of stain can be done with an airless paint sprayer.

Rooster

[ljmathias]

I actually used a combination of lap siding on the bottom and B&B on top- looks great with 4-4 lumber.  The lap is roughly 8" wide with a live edge while the B&B had 6-10" boards and 3" battens- I love the variation in widths and it's a whole lot easier to come up with lengths for each that work well....

Lj

[scsmith42]

For projects that I build here on the farm, I typically use board and batten on the bottom (below the eaves), and horizontal siding above.  I mill it so that there are no seams in any of the boards (including the 40' fascia board on the front of the porch).  This is an old house on one corner of my property that I've remodeled (not the one that I live in though):







The house that I live in was built by someone else, and has western cedar board siding with a milled in groove from the ground up to the roof.  It's spliced together - but they did a pretty good job of it.

[Dakota]

I grew up in Vermillion, and reading your blog and looking at your pictures, I can tell you live "East River", and you are not kidding about the winters and summers. 

My Dad built a cabin and associated out buildings in the mid eighties.  He put ponderosa pine on all the buildings in one way or another.  After 25 years or so, I've been able to watch what happened to the pine siding. 

Over the years, Dad has maintained the siding on his buildings by spraying them with a linseed oil mixture.  The siding is fine, but the north side of all the buildings have turned black with mildew or mold, I'm not sure which one.  I'm guessing this is a result of the big swing in temperature from morning,  when there is heavy dew, and the afternoon heat.  I don't think the north side of the buildings have time to dry out before it gets cool again(that's South Dakota).

I'm sure this will be a problem on the North side of your house.  Maybe you can come up with a better spray to combat the mildew/mold.  Just wanted to warn you.

Dakota

[Ironwood]

Scott, that house is beautiful.

I have wood, if you have a maintenence free lower portion, I would use Hardiboard. I can see as I age, I will want less maintenence  work.

          Ironwood

[stonebroke]

 (including the 40' fascia board on the front of the porch). 

What kind of mill do you use for forty feet?


Stonebroke

[scsmith42]

(including the 40' fascia board on the front of the porch). 

What kind of mill do you use for forty feet?


Stonebroke

Peterson WPF with 64 feet of track.  I can mill a board to 58', if I can find the log.  The photo below is a 44 footer.  Note that the photo was taken at an angle so the board doesn't look as long as it is.

[stonebroke]

It must take more than two of you to nail a forty foot board up.

Stonebroke

[scsmith42]

Three people is easiest...

[Thehardway]

have you thought about using standard hardi-plank siding but running it vertical instead of horizontal just as you would with a standard board and batten?  It comes in longer lengths that way and their would be less horizontal seams and less waste but still give you the look and low maintenance.

Another option would be to use the hardi-panel in 4x8 sheets and cover the horizontal seams with 8" siding  and add a couple of diagonal pieces in a design to emulate braces for a half-timber look (trimberframe)

If you decide to go the real wood route, consider tulip poplar for board and batten.  You can get it in fairly long, straight board of considerable width.  It has withstood the test of time on many barns without any treatment.  It weathers to a natural silver/grey color and in my opinion is very beautiful.

An article on its performance can be found here http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1987/feist87b.pdf


Poplar Bark siding is also available and is supposed to last 50 years. Cannot personally attest to this.

[ljmathias]

Good suggestion on the Hardiplanks and panels- they do wear well and are fire, bug and rot resistant.  Only problem with them is their weight vs strength ratio.  I've sided with both the panels (lap siding) and 4X8 sheets.  For the 4X8 sheets, thermal expansion and contraction here in the deep south makes gaps- even caulked, they eventually open up.  Tried covering them per your suggestion but that only works well on the vertical seams; horizontal seams not as well.  The planks are great looking once installed but it takes a minimum of three people to install- they're heavy and flimsy and we broke several doing a whole house.  Plus you have to use special nails which are a pain to drive and they work loose- I love screws: don't work loose as much and if you make a mistake, you can take them out.  There are special screws for hardiboard but they also are expensive.  Also, when we did my neighbors house with planks, we used pre-painted ones and that saved a bunch of time and effort in the hot summer months.

Currently using pine lap siding with Woodguard to give it a cypress color and preserve it (hopefully) for years and years; the wood was free, just as heavy as hardiplanks but not as flimsy or fuzzy about what nails/screws you can use- good all decking screws work great, especially with an impact driver.  I've even done 25 footers by myself- not easy, lots of dropped boards trying to hold with one hand, screw with the other two...

I think the real key to prolonging the look and lifetime of any siding is exposure- north or south, depending on where you are, but also how big your eaves are, and the bigger the better.  Crap flows downhill and the same is true for all the light and oxidants that eat up/discolor the wood and paint.  Course, carpenter bees fly uphill, but that's another kettle of fish.

Lj

[djkarl]

Hi,

The first log home I built I lived in for 4 years, the 2nd for 17 years.  The latter is in NC.  This post is appropriate for my locality.  Note though... the humidity of NC is pretty challenging on wood.  I don't know about salt though; I'm in the piedmont.

At first I found log home maintenance a little annoying, but now I think I have it nearly down to a science.

Here are some thoughts on log home or wood siding maintenance:
- It will probably need a good power wash and a new coat of stain/sealer every 5-10 years.  I like Ultra-Kleen for power washing.  I like Flood CWF-UV5 or Flood TWF for my stain sealer (I'm going from memory here, could have a letter off) The main question with stains is how much pigment?  The more you put up, the better UV resistance and better it hides blemishes below.  Of course you give up seeing more grain.  I find the above two to be a balance I can live with.  TWF has more pigment than CWF.
- carpenter bees are easy to control if you can reach them.  Just put a little Sevin in the hole when they are active.  Come back a couple days later and caulk with appropriate color.  Corks are an option, but I think caulk looks better when done right.
- I used to have issues with my house turning black.  I thought it was our tremendous SYP pollen, which can actually get so heavy it can look like mild fog.  I hypothesized it was mold or mildew eating the pollen.  Problem is, even straight Clorox had no affect!!!  Also, exposed wood with the most sunlight and most wind had it the worst!!!  I was stumped.  ??? This area also struggles with black roof stains.  I figured out that the roof stains were Black Algae and they aren't that hard to control.  Also found out Black Algae attacks wood siding.  Hmmm... light bulb goes on above my head  8).  Two years ago I've treated my roof and siding for Black Algae and I think I've now solved the mystery.  Instead of the gradual fade to black which should have already started, house still looks great.  The black algae cleaner I got is concentrated Spray & Forget.  At first I thought it was a hoax, but it isn't; it works.  Mix with water and just spray on.
- I still take a broom with a long pole and dust off the outside of the house at the end of spring.  It takes a couple hours.
- I consider this a must have for wood exterior maintenance: I spent about $120 on a 12v diaphragm pump and fittings so I can stick one end in a bucket and the other end I attach to a hose.  I want to apply Ultra Kleen and concentrated Spray & Forget at a ratio that I pre-mix.  I don't know another way to do that.  A power washer's siphon doesn't do it for me.  I find this tool very useful for other odd jobs (e.g. curing concrete at remote sites).  I'd get the most powerful 12v diaphragm pump I could find.  I run mine off a car charger or directly off of my pickup battery.

Hope this helps,

Don

[djkarl]

Forgot to mention:

I think white pine is fine for your siding.   Sure, some wood species may be more rot/insect resistant than others, but the best defense is proper envelope design.  If water won't set on a horizontal wood surface or wick up into wood, you're mostly set.  A good finish and care (as in my previous post) should get you a structure that will easily outlive us all.

Most fungi (and termites) need higher moisture contents and those two are probably the worst enemy of wood.  Shedding water is typically enough to keep moisture contents under control.

I once threw some Norther White Cedar on the ground and after a few months it was riddled with carpenter ants.  This is just anecdotal, but makes a point.

There is one thing I'm not entirely sure about, but it won't affect your siding.  Log homes check and that could be a source of water entering a log.  Depending upon many variables, water could get in the log.  If it stays wet enough, long enough, then fungi could attack.  This is all just qualitative though, I have no quantitative data.  If my log home had sizable checks that were getting lots of water in them, I'd monitor the situation (pin less moisture meter and probe) and consider caulking suspect checks.  I wouldn't sweat this... I'd just do it quick and get it over with.

Perhaps there is some other exception for a very specific problem, but I think you'll be fine with white pine.  BTW, my current home is white pine.

Don

[Woulde]

Any opinions about using nailers attached to SIP's?

Will these extend the life and or reduce maintenance of the siding?

I'm thinking of using vertical board and batten either hardiplanks or wood.

Location is Northern Michigan.

Thanks!

[bigshow]

or cedar breather?  If i use real wood (i'm thinking of mixing and matching - I have no confidence my north side will ever dry out) I'm gonna use nailers/firing strips - or cedar breather.  Whichever is least expensive, I do like the fact that cedar breather isnt very thick and will require less monkeying around with exterior trim details around windows and such.

[shinnlinger]

Big show,

I am tacking up strips of tarpaper to give a little air space under my B&B pine.