Concealing J Channel

[ellbaker]

Leaning towards a vinyl shake for the exterior of my place. Issue is with the J channel.  I am not a big fan of look when you case every window and door with J. I am planning to trim out my windows with 5/4 x 6" trim. I had two ideas to conceal or eliminate the J channel.

First is to rabbet the trim board to cover the J. I may have to fur out my trim boards some to have sufficient depth to cover the J.

Second is to rabbet the trim but not use J.  In it's place I would take some aluminum flashing.  Bend it to correspond to the depth of the rabbet, essentially building my own J out of flashing and trim board.

Anyone with any experience in doing something like this?

[Redoverfarm]

Not real sure you can get sufficent depth by rabbit to cover the J-channel.  But there needs to be some type of channel to yes basicly channel the moisture or water down & away to minimize penetration to the window area.

[PEG688]

  The idea has merit.

If you wrapped your windows and doors with Vycor , or Tyvek weatherization tape  first. You could rip so 1 1/8" plywood into say 2" wide strips run those around your doors and windows ,  outdoor electrical boxes, light fixtures, hose bibb's, etc . Then trim out the windows / doors etc with a 3/4"x 3 1/2" or larger trim. The 1 1/8" ply would create the "J" , the weatherization tape would provide the sealing.


The windows would be more recessed than norma,  so the shadow lines would be deeper / more pronounced . Not that that would be a bad thing, but it is something to think about.

Corner boards , frieze boards, other trim  all could be dealt with in a similar fashion.


It's gonna cost more , as you'll be wrapping every thing twice , so more $$ in material , and more $$ in labor / time in labor.  These are also some thing to factor in.


But I'd say sure you could get rid of the "J" detail.            


Another down side will be bugs living in the space created by the over laid detail. Spiders, bee's etc all will love the crevices created.   

[ellbaker]

Didn't think about the lights, hose bibs, etc.  What keeps the bugs out of J channel?  The standard J for the siding I am looking at is only 3/4" so 3/4" plywood should work the furring board.

[PEG688]

What keeps the bugs out of J channel?  The standard J for the siding I am looking at is only 3/4" so 3/4" plywood should work the furring board.

  Nothing , but the J channel may "close up" a bit more than a wood channel / space.

   Just food for thought, things that don't get mentioned can become issues /  "the law of unintended consequences" . Similar to you not thinking of other type of wall penetrations and more importantly how to deal with them if you decide to do it this way.   

[MushCreek]

I just saw an ad in JLC for non-J-channel trim for vinyl. It looked pretty nice, but I bet it's spendy. I'm on the road, so I can't look it up right now.

[Ndrmyr]

I'm siding out my cabin right now with vinyl cedar shake panels (certainteed cedar impressions).  Although I am using J-Channel on my project, I certainly understand your view on it, it's not especially lovely, and does lack the rustic appeal many of us want in our projects.  I could certainly see you dadoing say cedar and mitering it at the corners which should be very appealing. However, I would either want to use a break and bury a "U" of aluminum in the dado or use it to conceal J-Channel.  That siding runs a lot of water onto the top and down the sides of your windows and I would still want it waterproofed with a channel of some sort.

[twobritts]

If you are looking for the ease of vinyl but don't like the look of the J-trim ask you supplier for other options.  Here is a link to some available from ABTCO casing and lineal trims that can be used like J but give a whole different look.

http://www.abtco.com/usa/products/accessories/window-trims