Lap siding or board and batten???

Deere80 · May 25, 2017, 08:05:25 AM

What are the pros and cons with lap siding or board and Batten? I am building a 8'x6' chicken coop right now and then I need to build a 20'x20' garden shed and want to make them both the same. I was planning on doing board and batten but then it seems easier to just over lap it and go. Also my house is lap siding so it would match better. So what are your thoughts on the two? here is the start of the chicken coop, just going to put a slant roof on.

thecfarm · May 25, 2017, 08:46:10 AM

I did a 10" board and than a 4" batten on a horse run in. I liked it better than the narrow batten. I saw it on the way to work each day and night. Finally someone was outside and I stopped and got the size he did. There was a local sawmill close by,and the boards was a package deal. That is why he went with 10" and 4".

btulloh · May 25, 2017, 08:48:34 AM

Personal preference really, but it'll be easier to do lap siding and it matches your house. If you do b&b you'll need strapping first.

samandothers · May 25, 2017, 08:53:10 AM

I am doing a board and batten on a barn, 10" and 3". I can put up green and center nail or screw and not worry too much about shrinking or cupping.

Deere80 · May 25, 2017, 09:26:12 AM

I see a lot of people put B&B up green but what about lap siding? How thick do you usually cut your boards for lap siding? I have a bunch of 4/4 boards that I cut a couple weeks ago that I plan on using either way I decide on going.

Engineer · May 25, 2017, 09:49:07 AM

I did random width board and batten on my shed a few years back, and have a big pile of 1x12 boards and 3/4x2 battens sitting in the yard now, to complete my garage siding. I like board and batten because it is easy to put up and looks good to me. Both the shed and the garage have horizontal strapping at 24" o.c. The boards are center-nailed and put up green. I use galvanized or stainless ring-shank coil siding nails to put everything up.

My house is lap siding but it is fiber cement, not wood. I didn't really want the garage or the shed to look the same.

Brucer · May 25, 2017, 11:59:54 PM

My daughter's house will have WRC lap siding. The siding is simple rectangular boards 5/8" x 8", lapped to give a 6" exposure. The recommended fastening system for WRC lap siding is stainless steel nails driven just above the top of the previous course. This allows the boards to shrink as they dry while holding the top edge securely.

SS fasteners are recommended with WRC because it can cause galvanic corrosion between different metals. Copper is especially bad. A local contractor tried using galvanized nails in an air nailer and discovered that the galvanizing simply disappeared where the nails were fastened together with a thin copper wire.

Sawing 5/8" material is simple on a bandsaw, even without setworks. Saw out a cant of the desired width, then drop the head 3/4" on each pass.

Beavertooth · May 29, 2017, 05:20:44 PM

I would go with the lap siding to match my house and it is also quicker, cheaper, and seals off better as you will be nailing closer than most people put blocking for board and batten. Of course you could put them as close as you want but most people don't put them as close as there studs are apart. No blocking or strapping over your studs with lap siding. If a batten comes loose on board and batten you can get water in your cracks. If a board loosens on you lap siding you still will not get any water in.