Pine Board and Batten Siding Over TIme

[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.