Bevel siding installation questions

[Alan Gage]

Hope to start installing my cedar siding next week but have some questions I'm hoping I can get some answers (or at least opinions) to.

For a little background it's a single story house with a hip roof and 3' overhang. Slab on grade with 8-10" between the dirt and floor. Behind the siding will be a vented rainscreen (3/16"). House is in Iowa. Not as wet as the east and not as dry as the west. New construction.

1: How important is a water table? Is its purpose mainly to protect the lower course of siding from water? Any reason I couldn't/shouldn't just put a starter strip at the bottom of the wall and go from there? With a 3' overhang I'm thinking it should be fairly protected from splash back.

2: How about the detail between the siding and the vented soffit (aluminum)? Butting the siding up against the F channel (that holds the soffit) doesn't sound promising. Nor does running the bevel siding above the soffit line and attaching the F channel to the siding itself. Is attaching the F channel to a 1x4 frieze board my best bet? Should I router under the lower edge so the siding can slip underneath it? Any other options?

3: Wall penetrations. There will be one for the drier, fresh air intake for wood stove, and a couple outlets and faucets. I'm leaning towards using 1x material (same that I used for trim) and attaching them to the wall before the siding goes up. The vents/outlets/faucets will be mounted to the blocks. I'd but the siding up against them like the rest of the trim. Any reason this won't work or better ideas?

Any other tips/ideas appreciated.

Alan

[Redoverfarm]

Alan it would appear to me that you would not want to block off the bottom of the channel created by the rainscreen to allow moisture/water to fall naturally.  Of course the bottom of the siding should be held at least 6" above final grade.  

In regards to the finish at the soffit area.  I would be tempted to just let the siding run up to the "f" channel and then if needed come back with a trim ( portion of the cedar ripped off of extra or damaged piece) to cover the gap if any.  There may be a possibility that there is varing gaps from one end to the other.  Unless you take extra time and care to climb at the same rate or adjust as you progress it is a given that there will be some difference.  . Personally I would finish it off with a piece of trim.

As for the wall penetrations I would probably do as you stated " butting the siding up agains the trim the same as the rest of the trim". If your trim is thick enough to come out to the thickess elevation of your siding fine.  If not I would probably add a piece of thinner stock behind your trim stock to bring it out.  If not your siding will protrude past the surface of the trim.  The outlet boxes you can try but I would think that if they are exterior boxes they can be mounted to the sheeting and still have enough heigth to come out to the edge of your trim board/siding.  They measure 4-1/2" w x 2-3/4" T X 2"D.  Then there is the water proof cover in addition to that.

[Canvasman]

Here are pictures of my cedar siding. Showing blocks for outlets and venting, watertable, however I now believe the top should have a 10 degree bevel. Lastly installing over dc10 drainage mat.

[Alan Gage]

Thanks for the pics, that looks nice. I like the drainage mat.

I decided to use the blocks for penetrations, no water table, and a frieze board. Got a start this weekend. I'll  wait to install the frieze board and soffit.


20110918_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

[Alan Gage]

The siding is all done and stained. Frieze board installed. No soffit yet.

I used a 1x6 for the frieze board with a rabbit cut in the lower edge and it worked great. Otherwise I would have ended up needing to rip a narrow strip of siding to hit the F channel for the soffit.


20111007_001 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Here's a shot of the frieze board and corner board (patio beam is on the right):


20111007_002 copy_web by Alan  Gage, on Flickr

Alan

[Redoverfarm]

Turning out great.  Nice work.