Exterior wood siding question. Vertical or horizontal?

[jesse977]

  Sorry for the newb question. I noticed a lot of cabins have exterior wood siding that is vertical, horizontal or both. Some cabins have horizontal siding on the upper areas and vertical on the lower area and others are vice versa. Does it matter what way the exterior wood siding is installed?

[UK4X4]

I think it really depends on how its installed and the area the cabin resides in.

Mine has both with a metal Z to cover the transition, the cabin is high mountains that get little rain, we go from summer to winter in pretty short form.

I'll be having more issues with UV and sun degradation than water damage.

If the cabin was in the wet north west.....than I'd have probably used a more rain proof material and definately gone for the horizontal install for better water shedding.

[John Raabe]

I did 1x6 cedar lap siding (horizontal) for just the reason UK4X4 mentions - we are in a mild rainy climate. It is pretty much self-draining.

[MountainDon]

Our cabin is all horizontal lap siding. Our home has horizontal lap siding but the gable ends are vertical board / batten type; in a SW desert area.