Another T1-11 question...is this a bad idea?

[MikeT]

On the backside of my beach house project, I have to put siding on walls that run about 30 feet from ground to the peak of the gable roof.   I am planning on siding with T1-11 on this part, but I was wondering if it would be a bad idea or not to cut my t1-11 into strips that are 12" wide and then side the house as if they were shingles or lapped siding--perhaps 2" laps.   I could also offset the courses so the seam would not be on a line.  My interest in this is that I think the full sheets will be quite cumbersome, especially since I am doing a lot of the work by myself.   My other thought is that this will give the backside some air in case driving rain does get behind. 

So what do you think?

Thanks,
mt

[glenn kangiser]

It may expose a lot of edges to water that would not be exposed otherwise - the drops of water will hang on the bottom of the siding.  Just a consideration -I don't know if it is a problem.

[Redoverfarm]

I am like Glenn.  The less open area the better. The more seams the more chance of failure.  You are probably going to have just as many seams running verticle that you will have horizontal when you try to match the groove pattern.  I would say find a good friend and a couple 40' ladders and slid the sheet up with an extra set of hands and nail it down.  Z strip for the seams on the horizontal intersection of sheets. You will spend less time installing full sheets than trying to make smaller managable sheets. 

[glenn kangiser]

A rope with a snatch block attached to the top of the wall could help place sheets that were clamped to it - vise grips?

[PEG688]

 I think he's talking about ripping T1-11 blanks into 12" x 96" long rips then applying them horizontally like bevel siding. 


VERY bad idea IMO , I wonder sometimes if you guy make this stuff UP to drive me from the forum     

Don't do it,  you'll find voids in most pieces , those 96" long "open grained rips/ edges " will soak up the water and the stuff will fall apart.


Snap a line for the TOP of the bottom row , tack a cleat along that line, push the first row of sheets right up to that cleat , then nail them off.

Your going to use Z metal between sheets right? Yes,  remove the cleat BEFORE you install the Z metal. 

Apply your Z metal , then set the next row on the metal , you could use the C clamp idea with a block and tackle to hoist them up , but once they are on the edge your really not "holding the sheet up" your just pushing in into the wall.


This is that high wall , the side the cars get parked on? Hope it's the protected wall , from the wind.

T1-11 is poor siding in a high wind driven rain area. Good luck. 

[glenn kangiser]

I think you got it PEG.  I was hoping you would show up on this. 

[Redoverfarm]

The way I understood was that he was going to cut them 12" X 48" and put them up as cedar shake style.  Either way a bad idea IMO.

[MikeT]

Thanks, guys.   Sometimes you have to throw these things up there and see what the reaction is--all in all that is much cheaper than actually trying it.

I may end up not going all the way up with the t1-11, but that would only be if I have enough cedar shingles for the gable part or the mail level plus the gable. 

I may also opt for the cementitious planks (Hardiplanks) and use the t1-11 elsewhere.

PEG, yes it is high but that is the downhill side of the house.  The uphill side has a 12 foot wall.

The rains just started this weekend, so work may shift inside until a get some breaks in the wet stuff.

mt

[n74tg]

Mike:
I had a similar problem putting my OSB sheathing on my house.  In some places I had to get panels 18 feet up in the air (not as bad as 30' like you have, but pretty close).

I used a triangle shaped jig built out of 2x4, to which I mounted a home-made block and tackle.  The jig was C-clamped to the top of my framed wall with two 6" C-clamps.  I also ran a line off the back side of the jig down and connected it to the subfloor inside the house.  That line kept the weight of each OSB panel (about 60 lbs) from trying to pull the jig off the roof. 

It worked great, and so as to fit in with what PEG wrote above, I did actually use a cleat for the panels to sit on.  That way all the top edges lined up exactly where I wanted them.  I installed 38 full sized panels this way and a bunch of half sized panels with no problems.

Here is a pic; I'm sure you could find a way to attach a similar jig to your house.

[NM_Shooter]

If you have to do stuff like this pretty much by yourself, use lots of caution.  I would try and hire this part out, just because of the danger involved with it.  Consider $1000 vs paralysis.

If I was determined to do this myself, I would bolt some unistrut to wall and work my way up with a scaffold attached to the unistrut.  I'd wear a harness, and I'd use a pulley system to get the sheets up.  Be careful!

I once built an attachment for my ladder.  I was putting OSB on the roof of my RV barn and doing it by myself.  I put an extension ladder inside the barn, and this attachment that I built was really just sort of a spring loaded board that I could rest the OSB on. 

I would lay the OSB against the ladder, which pressed the spring board out of the way as I slid the sheet up the ladder.  Once it got past the springboard, the board would pop out towards me, and I could rest the OSB on the board (still on the ladder).  I'd then walk around, get up on the roof, and pull the OSB the rest of the way up. 

First time I did this, I was going up the ladder, pushing the OSB ahead of me.  As soon as I passed the spring board, the thing sprung out at me and almost whacked me right between the eyes.  It stopped about 1/4" from my forehead. 

I started laughing so hard I almost fell off the ladder. 

Be safe.