Pine Board and Batten Siding Over TIme

[Stephen Gouldby]

Hi guys, it has come time to redo the siding on my old farm house. I really want to go with a real wood board and batten (likely pine, southern Ontario area) but my wife wants to go with something synthetic like fibre cement board or vinyl.

My question is, since the natural wood will need restaining every couple of years or so, will it get progressively darker over time? We prefer the light look and thus dont want it to get to dark.

Any other opinions that could help persuade her to natural wood would be helpful as well.

Thanks!

[Richard Shaefer]

listen to your wife and get the cement board. Pine is NOT a durable siding material and it will NOT remain light colored over the years. I used to have wood siding and switched to Hardiboard when I did my addition 10 years ago. It's still perfect shape, and the original paint is still on it, also in perfect shape.

[keith micinski]

Also siding made from companies like LP smart side and Hardi don't just perform much better then real wood they actaully manage to look non synthetic while doing it. Most people probably don't know that those siding materials aren't a real wood siding when installed properly. The only real draw back to the Hardi is how hard it is to cut and work with compared to wood.

[Stephen Gouldby]

hm, I was really hoping to come here to get backed up real wood siding haha anyways if I were to go synthetic I think I would go for the hardie board....however it looks a lot harder and more complicated to install than vinyl....is this true?

[Jeff Bartley]

Stephen,
Hardie board installs like wood except where cutting is concerned: it throws up a cloud of cementicous mess that has to be experienced to understand! And like wood, cut ends should be back primed/painted. Also, I've seen some degradation of galvanized fasteners so if you went this route I'd recommend confirming fastener choice with the manufacturer; or just pay the money for stainless.
I'm not familiar with any vinyl product that looks like board and batten, maybe someone else will chime in?

[Tom M King]

I've had White Oak on our house and barn since 1980, and all it needs is pressure washing about every ten years. This is board and board, with about a 2-1/2" reveal behind the front boards. Woodpeckers have tried it, but not been able to dent it. Of course, when I bought it in 1980 it was a hundred bucks a thousand.

[Frank Pratt]

Vinyl isn't as maintenance free as the manufacturers would have you believe. By the time you have to repaint the cement siding, the vinyl on the house next door is going to be looking pretty sad too. And even brand new, vinyl just doesn't look very good compared to wood or cement siding.

[Stephen Gouldby]

Yea I find most vinyl siding to look "cheap" like a low end product. I saw one cottage up north with fibre cement board that I would have bet on it being real wood until I got up really close and inspected it. It is a nice product.

[Stephen Gouldby]

Im almost thinking now of going with the hardie board, something like the evening blue colour, but doing the trim work around the windows, doors, etc. with a nice stained cedar for contrast. Get a bit of both worlds.

[Don Orr]

We have WR Cedar board & batten on our house. The older part and the newer additions. Never been treated with anything. Older parts have gone gray like barn wood and look great. Newer parts are starting to fade a little but still are fairly bright. You MUST use stainless nails or you get black streaks at every nail. Our builder screwed up badly-used stainless on part of the front addition but ran out and got the wrong nails for around the front and entryway where we and everyone sees it. Black streaks at every nail. My shop addition is all stainless nails and no streaks. Not cheap but looks great. When I removed some of the old cedar siding from the end of the garage to build my shop, the back side of the boards was like new!

If you go with cement board, spend the money and get a specific cutting tool. Makita has one & we used it when building my friends shop-almost no dust and nice clean cuts. Worth every penny (~$200)

[keith micinski]

The shear that don is talkin about works great on straight cuts but for doing your eve rakes and doing any kind of ripping around Windows and doors your pretty mich stuck with a saw. They make a special blade with less teeth but to be honest with you I haven't noticed much of a difference between it and a regular blade. Get the special hangers that help you line your siding up by yourself even if you have a helper because they are a lot easier to use no matter what.

[Richard Shaefer]

Also siding made from companies like LP smart side and Hardi don't just perform much better then real wood they actaully manage to look non synthetic while doing it. Most people probably don't know that those siding materials aren't a real wood siding when installed properly. The only real draw back to the Hardi is how hard it is to cut and work with compared to wood.

agreed. you wouldn't know the board and batten siding on my house is fiber cement if you stuck your nose to it.
With a coat of paint, it's indistinguishable.

[Jim Andrew]

I have installed both the Hardie board, and the smart siding. The smart siding is easier, and it has a decent life. Think it costs less as well. The Smart trim is what the lumberyards here sell to use with Hardie board. As far as cutting Hardie board, I used a Porter Cable tool sold for that use. Sawing with a abrasive blade is just nasty, the dust is a killer.

[keith micinski]

I just remembered that I started using a diamond blade to cut the hardie board and it worked a lot better then the dedicated hardie blades or regular blades. Dusty as hell but it comes with the territory of the product. I agree on the smart side. Your probably going to end up using that for trim unless you do go with the stained cedar which I would strongly suggest not to if your plan is to have the body of the house a blue. Trim should always be white in that case.

[Charles P. Wright]

We have Cedar siding; and really like the look with a translucent stain on it. You can tell that it is real wood and not any other kind of painted product. I had to pressure wash it to bare wood and restain three of the four sides about 2 years ago (after living in the house for 8 years, the total age of the house is now 28 years old, so the siding was about 25 years old at the time). It still looks pretty good. The third side which was in the sun the most had to be replaced when I restained the rest because of warping/splitting. The replacement was pretty spendy, but it does look beautiful.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Our home built in the '60s uses cedar lap siding. 10 years ago when I built my shop, I had the contractor use Hardiboard. He matched the pattern and you can't tell the difference. Last year we had a bumpout built on our kitchen. Again, we used the same contractor and I asked for Hardiboard. He cut the siding in so well, the average person can't tell where the Hardiboard starts and the cedar siding ends.

[Art Mann]

I built our house out of western cedar about 30 years ago. I count that as one of the truly big mistakes of my life. The resale value of an old cedar house is much less than brick, although the initial cost is not. Don't believe for a minute that cedar won't rot. I can't even remember how many facia boards I have replaces over the years. No cedar house will maintain that beautiful reddish brown color very long unless you clean and refinish it annually. Some houses age to a nice gray color but mine doesn't. It just grows black mildew that has to be pressure washed and scrubbed annually. The spiral nails that were used to hang it keep backing out as a result of shrinkage and expansion of the wood. It is a yearly ritual to get out the extension ladder and go around the house extracting half out nails and replacing them with screws. In recent years, carpenter bees and other boring insects have gnawed holes that have to be filled. In the end, I gave up and painted the house with opaque stain. It looks okay and is less maintenance but if I'm gonna do that, I would much rather just have used lower maintenance Hardiplank lap siding. I just don't think western cedar is a very good exterior wall covering in the humid deep south.

I am about to start building a new house this spring and it will not have any natural wood or wood byproduct on any exterior surface. I have better and more enjoyable things to do with my life.

[Richard Shaefer]

I built our house out of western cedar about 30 years ago. I count that as one of the truly big mistakes of my life. The resale value of an old cedar house is much less than brick, although the initial cost is not. Don't believe for a minute that cedar won't rot. I can't even remember how many facia boards I have replaces over the years. No cedar house will maintain that beautiful reddish brown color very long unless you clean and refinish it annually. Some houses age to a nice gray color but mine doesn't. It just grows black mildew that has to be pressure washed and scrubbed annually. The spiral nails that were used to hang it keep backing out as a result of shrinkage and expansion of the wood. It is a yearly ritual to get out the extension ladder and go around the house extracting half out nails and replacing them with screws. In recent years, carpenter bees and other boring insects have gnawed holes that have to be filled. In the end, I gave up and painted the house with opaque stain. It looks okay and is less maintenance but if I'm gonna do that, I would much rather just have used lower maintenance Hardiplank lap siding. I just don't think western cedar is a very good exterior wall covering in the humid deep south.

I am about to start building a new house this spring and it will not have any natural wood or wood byproduct on any exterior surface. I have better and more enjoyable things to do with my life.

annually.
that's the most important word here.

Cedar needs cool salt air and lots of exposure to turn silver grey and not rot. that's why it was popular in coastal New England. I live on a mountain lake and all the cedar does around here is blacken, rot, and infest.