wood siding???

larry merlau

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Delton, Michigan
what would those of you suggest for wood siding if you were to cut your own form the trees on a property.. we need to get 1600 square foot of a 6 or 7" reveal horizontal siding.. my first thought would be tuplip popular because of close grain and non spliting..but i am not sure of the longivity..
 
cedar would be my choice. There are homes around here with cedar clapboards that have been around since the 1700's. My house has cedar clapboards. I replace the trim from time to time but the siding is still perfect.
 
Longevity depends on how and what finish you finish with. Where they are and how long it is going to take for them to dry out after a rain. I haven't seen any of the ceder from the 1700's but I have pealed off a ton of pine ones.
 
they are talking just a stain chuck.. and we dont have cedar or redwood in the woods folks.. but maybe its not a savings to cut logs and have it cut into sideing???
 
Well Larry my old man used to go find big pine trees that had been blown down or dropped for some other reason. He would cut 18" chunks and take them to our local shingle mill. after a year or two he had enough shingles to reside the family camp. That was better than 20 years ago might even be going on 30. All we did before installing them was to dip them in Thompson. I also can tell ya that stuff aint what it used to be.
 
Larry my brother in pa built a chicken coupe out of maple 30+ years ago. Never put any kind of finish on it but thompson sealer. i seen it just the past week when i was up there and it was still in good shape. Don't know what kind of maple it was, but it has held up well in that ares.

hey steve what dimension did he cut it? was it put on like board and batten or horizontal? and chuck, whats your thoughts of cedar shakes for the siding?
 
While this topic has come up, i would like to ask if one had a choice between siding and brick living in the North with snowy winters, what would it be and why? Then if siding came out tops what type of siding would one use?

Sorry for the detour Larry just using the opportunity to learn a little. Could be relevant to my future home.:)
 
brick doesnt need to be stained or treated!!! and is solid, old home then you have insulation factor, wood is warmer than masonry but masonry is cooler in summer..the old vrs new rob needs to be factored in..
 
While this topic has come up, i would like to ask if one had a choice between siding and brick living in the North with snowy winters, what would it be and why?

Personally, I like board-n-batten. I don't like horizontal siding much.

brick doesnt need to be stained or treated!!! and is solid, old home then you have insulation factor, wood is warmer than masonry but masonry is cooler in summer..the old vrs new rob needs to be factored in..

And Larry summed it up well.

But also, since I know nothing about bricklaying, I would find siding to be more DIY friendly, and more repair-friendly.
Brick probably is more maintenance-free for longer.

I'd probably go for a bit of a hybrid, put brick in some spots and board-n-batten in others. Friend of mine is a builder and what they've done on their latest model home is to lay the brick up about halfway on the walls, sort of a beltline around the house, and then cap that and put board-n-batten above it. Looks gorgeous.
 
Personally, I like board-n-batten. I don't like horizontal siding much.

Any specific reasons other than appearance (I agree it can have a nice look)?


Larry: Google search "Tulip Poplar Siding" and you get some interesting details in the first couple of links. Short version:
  • Sap wood will rot quickly, but heart wood can be ok if used properly.
  • Don't let it have any ground/extended water contact and make sure it can drain (careful with the caulking to avoid forming water damns that don't drain).
  • There are some old buildings that have survived well with poplar siding, but reportedly old growth was denser and less rot prone so ymmv.
 
Any specific reasons other than appearance (I agree it can have a nice look)?


Larry: Google search "Tulip Poplar Siding" and you get some interesting details in the first couple of links. Short version:
  • Sap wood will rot quickly, but heart wood can be ok if used properly.
  • Don't let it have any ground/extended water contact and make sure it can drain (careful with the caulking to avoid forming water damns that don't drain).
  • There are some old buildings that have survived well with poplar siding, but reportedly old growth was denser and less rot prone so ymmv.

i was going from what was used some back in the old days and like you stated it rots fast in water.. so i quess we are better of to leave that one alone.. thanks ryan for the research
 
My comments are strictly aesthetics, Ryan. I just like the look. I have no idea if one is technically superior to the other or not.

Thanks I was just curious if there were other considerations I didn't know about :D I know a lot of old barns were made that way and I know for the couple I worked on it had a lot more to do with the material available than anything else (getting simple straight cut pieces from the old ranch sawmill were pretty easy and you can make battens out of off-cuts, more complicated T&G or even beveled lap boards were beyond our tooling abilities). Makes for a nice classic look anyway.

i was going from what was used some back in the old days and like you stated it rots fast in water.. so i quess we are better of to leave that one alone.. thanks ryan for the research

NP, I was curious not having really worked with it outside of a few borg pieces (its not a common wood on this side of the muddy). It sounds like some cases it has lasted a long time, but you have to have the right pieces and treat it well so unless you have really big chunks to get nice heartwood out of its probably not worth it.
 
I would think the size of the eaves would affect how well the wood weathered. A good overhang will keep all but horizontal wind driven rain off the siding and probably prolong its useful life. I like the look of the brick belt topped by board and batten that Art talked about too.
 
Just food for thought them two out buildings of mine are pine shiplap. Easy enough to have pine boards milled on site and rip out the lip on a table saw. You could do the same with that poplar. On both of my building I put a PT mud board on to keep the pine up out of the water. I am also residing the house with the same stuff. The bottom 3 feet or so I back stain and stain the bottom so they can't suck up water from roof splash. I also stain the boards before installing them so that the laps get a good coat of stain on them. Can't have a building with racing strips when the boards shrink and show off the unstained laps.
 
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