Slab Siding

[conohawk]

 I am considering using second cut slab siding on some of my outbuildings that are currently under construction.

Searches within this forum, as well as the old one, turned up no hits.  So, have any of you kind folks sided with this material?

Thank you for any insights.

-Mark

[glenn-k]

I posted something here on clapboard siding.  Many of the old out buildings around here used board and batten siding or plain board siding.  Some are over 100 years old and still fine.  There was not a commercial grading system back then that I know of.

If it can dry after getting wet it will last a long time.  Board and batten runs vertically but I also like to use sliced trees appx 5/8" or more thick with untrimmed edges to make a neat looking clapboard siding.  You can trim one edge if desired and use it for a starter trimmed edge down then as you go up the wall cover the trimmed edge with an untrimmed edge to give a rustic look.

In board and batten, somewhere I saw a reference showing boards nailed down then battens nailed only in the center between the boards.  For out buildings, a full stud wall is not necessary as there is more wood in the boards - unless you need it for inside finish.  There is a house near here with single wall construction that is near 100 years old and could still be restorable.  With single wall construction using board siding you would want to use let in braces or strap braces to prevent racking.

I'm sure second rate boards will outlast me-- if not, they're cheap to replace.

Here is a link to information about making your own lumber and from their main page is tons more info.  I don't find the older wood or bug kill wood to be a problem as they state- it is somewhat weaker and I think the staining -usually black - adds character to it.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Processing_trees_to_lumber.html

[jraabe]

Slab siding can give a log house look to a frame building. You can try local lumber mills to see if they can produce it for you. Many chip the slab material but some mills produce it for local use http://www.patlbr.com/main_products.htm

[Amanda_931]

I've got slab/first cut siding on the treehouse.  It looks lovely from a distance, since the bark has mostly not come off, but some kind of beetle loves that bark/wood interface.  there are frequently little piles of sawdust around.

The old-style board and batten--or board and board--did have nails on one side only so that they could use green wood, not worry too much about shrinkage.

The Stiles like 2nd cuts when you can find them--too narrow to make decent dimensional lumber, but fine to put on clapboard style.  Again, basically one side nailed/screwed.  There will still be a little bit of beetle dust, but maybe only if you have hickory wood here in the South.

If you're looking for first or second cuts with bark, find a small sawmill without a mechanical debarker.  Around here most of the medium and large ones do have them by now.  

Piles of well-rotted stuff off the debarker is mostly what I get as mulch from either of a couple of sawmills here.  One is variably priced, the other--the sawdust is free, but they charge $10/scoop to load it.  A scoop from those guys pretty well fills my 8-foot bed pickup to half way up the back window.

[glenn kangiser]

The slabs or caps I get from my sawmill generally have quite a bit of taper but shorter lengths work well in a lot of places.  Mills that cut smaller long logs would have better slabs for siding I think.  Most of the bark is probably going to fall off after the first year anyway, and one log home authority said the best thing you can do to preserve your logs-or in this case, slabs is get the bark off it.  Bugs love to get under it.  Wood continues to shrink for about a year  so you may have a gap problem between drying slabs.  I wonder if a reverse board and batten will work  Edges can be trimmed on a table saw or with a skill saw and chalkline if they are not done on the mill or a resaw.  My slabs generally only have one or no finished edges since I only roll my logs 90 degrees to get boards with 3 finished sides most of the time.

[Amanda_931]

Guy who worked on the treehouse asked an expert or two, they thought that if the slab was thin enough--around two inches, the bark should stay on just fine.

And/or be a real bear to peel

It's two years old in about a month.

Local hardwood--hickory and maybe oak.

But I agree with you, peeled logs are going to be a lot longer lived.

[conohawk]

Thank you for the helpful  replies.  I'll check for local sources.  Plenty of lumber operations up here, and right over the border in British Columbia.