Just want to frist thank the forum owner here and everyone else for the wealth of information on here. If I am asking a question already posed, I apologize, but I did not see it.
My wife and I are considering building a small house and we like the idea of framing the walls, covering with tar paper and finishing with smartside. It seems like it eliminates a step to drying in, with more time to concentrate on the rest.
Is this workable?
First Off w* from Rick and Ellen from Idaho. Second are you asking about LP Smartside Panels? Or lap siding?
Welcome to this great forum!
You might check out this discussion: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=7579.0
And Mountain Don's thread - lots of discussion there about tar paper and Hardy Siding:
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
Some Smartside in the 4x8 ft size sheets is approved as a structural panel. Some are not. IIRC there are three varieties of 4x8 panels. The lap siding Smartside products should be installed over sheathing panels.
I'd just sheath it unless you had some special reason not to. That was one of the few parts of my build that was much faster and easier than I thought it would be. Then you can do whatever you want for siding without having it look like it got hit with a machine gun. Sheathing requires a lot of nails and it might not be so pretty when they all show.
Alan