what kind of siding is this?

[Jared Drake]

[Jens]

Can't open the link.  I would tell you how to do it, but I don't know

[Jimmy C.]

Is this the image?
Hosted by(Tinypic.com)

[glenn kangiser]

That looks like it Jimmy.  

To me it looks like something you don't see much of, but in my opinion the best. It looks like real wood-- I would say it is reverse board and batten.  This leaves a good rain screen wall behind.

[Jared Drake]

Oh man Angelfire is really burning my butt. Thanks for the post, though. What about 1x12's butted together? Board and batten has small boards between the bigger ones, right? I don't really like that at all. But I love this house and it's what my wife and I are going for.

[Shelley]

The battens serve a purpose.  Help to keep the wind and critters out and stop the edges from curling on you.

[John Raabe]

If you want to do flat vertical wood siding you will need to get a T&G material as wood must be able to expand and contract freely and for the reasons Shelly has just mentioned.

[glenn kangiser]

I think I saw someplace that you can nail down the batten first, maybe a 1 x 3 or so then nail down the 1 x 12 over it keeping 2 nails toward the center allowing the outside edges to expand and contract for reverse board and batten - reverse that for regular board and batten.

Seems it may have been in the PDF framing manual - not sure. :-/

[PEG688]

  I think Glenn is right , to far away to be sure . With a 1X12 I'd be doing 1x3 , 1x2 , 1x3 . the 1x3 centered under  / behind the 1x12 joint , and the 1x2 centered under the 1x12 . I'd use two nails only in the 1x12 ,1 1/2( est.)  in from each edge of the 1x12 so it could work , the 1x2 would just be to back out the 1 x12 from excess warping .   Of coarse the two nails meaning horz.,     every 16 to 18 inch vertical.

  I'd also have horz. blocking in the framed wall for those nails to grab , not just the sheathing . ( longer nails than normal would be required. ) Paper as normal , flashing details would need to figure all that in , (added depth).  

   I'd also back prime with one coat of what ever was applied to / or will be applied to the face in the future.  Even if it is just a clear finish.

  If it will be raw wood always , forever , I'd still mop on a clear sealer to the back . Any that ran over to the face will bleed out in the sun in short order , a season at most .

  HTBH  ;)PEG  

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds like a good plan PEG. I used the Firefox image zoom feature to zoom in on the picture -blew it up double size -bigger gets pretty grainy --and to me it does look like real 1x12's.

[Daddymem]

Reverse board and batten is probably correct.  I saw some of the same in Northern New York on a relative's house a few weeks ago.  The siding was stained grey.  The house had been up for a few decades and some of the boards were starting to cup and warp so I was able to see behind the boards to see the bats.

[Jared Drake]

So what's a good alternative to this and still achieve that look?

[rwalter]

Personally to me this looks like 5/8" " T1-11. If you look at the gable end wall you see the seam where the 8 foot lengths of T1-11 end. If were using board and batten or reversed board and batten I wouldn't expect to see this seam. There is lumber yard around where I live that sells some pretty deep cut grooves in their 5/8" T1-11

[glenn kangiser]

I guess it could be -and that is what would look like it.

[PEG688]

  To me,, it looks like boards . Lots of grain , and mostly knots , T-111 , or T1-11 doesn't look as different panel to panel as those do , and doesn't telagrafe (sp) the knots like real wood .

  Nothing will look like wood if it ain't wood .

  If the wife likes it , I'd just figure it in  

 You could use really cheap stuff , or some local rough sawn , if it's cheaper for the under battens.

  HTBH  ;)PEG

[Amanda_931]

I think the whole point of board and batten was so that you could get your house/barn up in a hurry, using green wood.

Probably still can.  Hence all the advice on nailing patterns.

[glenn kangiser]

I think you're right, Amanda, and also thinking about it more, I also think T1-11 is a poor imitation of reverse board and batten.  I like the real thing better even with its occasional shrink, warp or crack.

[Amanda_931]

I believe that sawmills around here sell "barnwood."  That is, freshly sawn, rough-cut more-or-less random width and species.

For a good deal less than kiln dried, single species, single width, planed wood.

Mind you, the thicker forms of T1-11 are plywood and will work as corner bracing, etc.

Pays your money and takes your choice.

[glenn kangiser]

That brings me to a question, Amanda.  Will a 1x4 or a double steel  strap replace a plywood panel brace equally?  What is an equivalent???

[Amanda_931]

I don't know.

When I was framing in the 70's, we thought the let-in 1x4 did.

That was in 2x4 framing, don't know if that would be worse or better than the 2x6 that is now common (more likely to twist?)

[PEG688]

That brings me to a question, Amanda.  Will a 1x4 or a double steel  strap replace a plywood panel brace equally? quote]
  No.   Unless your engineer stamps it , and he won't .   Unless you have no windows , then , well no . They love those BWP , ABWP , IBWP's they won't go away , any time soon .   HTBH  ;)PEG

[glenn kangiser]

Now that you mentioned it PEG, an engineer did design a post and beam house with strawbale infill for a friend of ours with fairly serious steel strapping.

[Bart_Cubbins]

Not sure if you mean code-equivalent or strength-equivalent, but in Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding (which John reviewed at http://www.countryplans.com/books.html; purchase via http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0806904240/countryplanscom),
the author provides some numbers giving the relative racking resistance of different sheathing/bracing:

horizontal 3/4" T&G boards nailed	1.0
let-in 2x4	2.6
diagonal 3/4" T&G boards nailed	4.3
1/2" plywood nailed	6
1/2" plywood glued	34

Don't know where he got those numbers, and no number was given for steel strapping.

[glenn kangiser]

That is exactly what  I was interested in, Bart.  Thanks a bunch.

[Amanda_931]

In the negligible seismic (but not quite negligible tornado--although I don't think we believed in them as much as we did later) areas of middle Tennessee, of thirty some years ago, it may not have made that much difference.  

But I never quite understood why the experts told us that either let in 1x4 or nailed on plywood were equally strong.

Wagner's book on framing talks about, but does not show--ever--the let-in 1x4.