Board and Batten construction

[Furu]

What is the normal (if there is such a thing) size of board and batten siding?

It seems that nominal 1x10 wide boards with 1x3 inch wide boards is somewhat common but just wondered what folks do.
Of course those are really 3/4 x 9 1/4 and 3/4 x 2 1/2 dimension.
Was going to do a board and batten siding on a building and trying to figure out what is the norm.

Thanks

 

[MacLawn]

Good question furu, I'll be looking forward to an answer too!

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Board and Batten goes back to before kiln drying when siding boards were green lumber. The batten covered a joint that widened as the boards shrunk. Usually the batten (pine and Fir) was nailed on only one side so it wouldn't split when things started to shrink. I have seen several widths of battens usually 2" - 3" wide. In those days the boards were all full inch sizes rough sawn. Shrinkage brought them down to approx what we have today in kilned dried milled lumber.

Ron

 

[Sodo]

I like Board & Batten, it's a classical old style and I highly encourage it!

It's not used much anymore because people don't understand the nailing pattern necessary. There is a specific way it needs to be nailed, or your boards will split. Basically it's one vertical row of nails in the middle of each board, and in the middle of each batten. You have to let the wood on the left and right of each nail shrink (or expand) with each season. They must "float".

You CANNOT nail board& batten to 1/2" sheathing, sheathing does not offer even 25% if the engagement you nee to hold a board& batten nail. You have to use LONG nails, they need a couple inches of engagement or the boards will cup and pull the nails out. You need horizontal "Gurts" to nail to. You CANNOT nail wherever you feel like it, or wherever the board is cupping, because when the board shrinks, if it can't float it will split. Also consider that the battens nails have to "gap' the thickness of the boards, they are extra long. Batten nails do NOT go thru the boards, they go thru the gap between the boards. Be sure to do your research on this special classical siding technique, there's lots of info in books and on the web.

You have to really UNDERSTAND what's happening, and why the B&B method was developed. As Ron said it was developed because people had to saw up trees and nail them on the house, they had no time or place to wait for the boards to dry.

Some people use T1-11 siding and nail battens on it, that looks "ok" but it's cheating. I hope you are doing the real thing! Don't use pine boards for outdoor siding, use fir or cedar, pine won't last but a few years exposed to weather.

 

[bcp]

Put tar paper over the boards, then nail on the battens. You will now have another classic style of siding.



Bruce

 

[forgeblast]

The person who built my barn, didn't add the battens. The gap was under a 1/2''. What I did with a gap that small was cut 1/2'' thick strips from rough cut hemlock and then use a brad nailer to put them in place. Its worked great. On my field stone shed what I did was put the hemlock on and then rip a board into a 1x3 and then use that to cover up the gap. I left more space.

 

[randy41]

i have board and batten siding on my house which is about 15 years old. I used stainless steel ringshank nails into plywood sheathing. its still holding on. i wouldn't use this method of siding if i had to buy the boards (mine is pine) but i used pine milled on site from my pine trees. this kind of siding provides a lot of entry points for insects and a lot of nesting places for wasps. if you have to buy the boards there are probably better and cheaper siding choices. mine is i think 8" wide with 3" battens.

 

[wngsprd]

I built a 10 by 24 foot small board and batten barn in 1988 not knowing too much about construction. I used cedar poles cut on the property. I guess I broke all the rules since I used rough cut pine and used 3 nails across each board and 2 on each batten, nailing one nail to each board. Stained it with oil based stain. Have had no splitting. Used it for goats, then horses, and now my tractor fits nicely inside.

 

[dave1949]

The width of the boards can be random as long as they are enough wider than the battens to look proportionally okay. I wouldn't use different width battens though.

I used northern/eastern white cedar B&B on a house we built in Ohio ~1980. It's still there and looks solid when I drive by it. One nail in the middle of the batten passing between the boards is what I did.

 

[radioman]

Sodo is correct on all points. When I built a shed for my dad, we milled the lumber at a nearby site and built shed pole barn style. We didn't wait for lumber to dry, and we used t 11 for siding but used milled lumber for doors. It shrunk and spaces developed so we covered it with batten strips just like how sodo said and why.

 

[MacLawn]

Could some of y'all boys post some pics of ye board and batten siding?

 

[Sodo]

The person who built my barn, didn't add the battens. The gap was under a 1/2''. What I did with a gap that small was cut 1/2'' thick strips from rough cut hemlock and then use a brad nailer to put them in place. Its worked great. On my field stone shed what I did was put the hemlock on and then rip a board into a 1x3 and then use that to cover up the gap. I left more space.

Forge, what you did is risky. If the boards swell, and you plugged up the gap with a strip, they could cup, and pop the nails out. Maybe you got lucky, it's just risky to g1ve the wood no place to go like that. I wooda recommended you leave that gap and cover it with battens because I like B & B!

The diagram shows how to nail properly. The boards normally shrink, note that the nailing allows the boards to shrink, (or swell into the gap). The gap between the boards is there for 2 reasons; if the boards swell then the gap lets them without 'cupping' and working the nails out. Note how it allows the batten nail to pass thru without touching the board, and thus splitting it (when the board shrinks). Note how long the nails are, nail grip is important.

Boards can shrink or expand with the seasons, this happens every year. Battens don't change much, it's the boards you have to worry about. Typical B&B uses as wide boards as possible, this is to reduce the number of boards and speed up construction. If you have a small building you can use narrower boards, and risk of splitting becomes less too.

 

[forgeblast]

I didnt plug them, the strip overlaps like in your second picture, but I have not had one split and they have been up for over 10 years. I think the trick, or how I got away with it was using long air brad nails.

 

[Sodo]

I think the trick, or how I got away with it was using long air brad nails.

Yep the brad nails flex a little, they don't have enough strength to pull the board apart.

 

[randy41]

this siding has been there for 15 years.

 

[Furu]

Well I stopped and measured a board and batten job that was cut locally and put on one of our local lumberyard's main office today.

The battens were 3/4 x 2" actual and the boards were 1" x 10" actual dimension. Gave a very balanced look. Could probably drop to 1 x 9 actual and would still stay balanced. I had thought I would go 3/4 or 7/8 thick board so as to get more per cant but can't help but think that maybe a mistake and should stick with 1" x widths on the boards. The 3/4" battens looked very nice.

 

[/pine]

IMO board and batten siding is one of the most attractive wood sidings there is...I've seen some very original paint combinations that can make them look surreal...

Personally I have installed more than I care to remember...almost all of it was on buildings right on the (FL) gulf beaches...almost always it was rough sawn cypress (full 1" thick)...rough dimensioned 1x10's and 1x3's...

All the framing had horizontal blocking at 16"oc vertically and we used 16HDG common nails...used one nail to set the board spacing so the battens required precise nailing...


The beauty of cypress if left entirely unfinished it gets a very attractive grey patina....

 

[Sodo]

Sodo get over it.
You are not and have not been the help that you think you are.

Forget the welding issue, but consider a thread I started on Board and Batten siding over in Rural living.
You chimed in as the 3rd response (4th item) You subsequently had three posts out of 15 total (as of today) that were not mine in the thread (2 of 17 total were mine). So authoring 20% of the posts that were not mine you failed to help me by answering the one question I asked in my first post. You claimed to be so knowledgeable but never gave me the slightest answer to the question that was asked. You pontificated on making everyone aware of your own self importance instead.

Since you live in Seattle according to your profile I presume that is under one of the bridges. That is where one normally finds TROLLS.

Furu, I am sorry it came across this way. I did my first and only (thus far) Board & Batten project a year ago. I Like B&B and will use it again, and wanted to learn the most I could. And was perhaps too happy to share some details that I learned.

I wrote as I did because I was trying to be "correct" as possible, not to sound self-important. I'm sorry for not offering board sizes but I thought the nailing was something pertinent to your project, because if its done wrong, it's too late.

I sided my B&B project with 8" and 1.75 boards because the building was small (6'X8') and standard 10-12" boards would be out of scale for a small building.

 

[Furu]

Furu,

I sided my B&B project with 8" and 1.75 boards because the building was small (6'X8') and standard 10-12" boards would be out of scale for a small building.

Thanks, mine will be 17' x 8' so that gives me a good idea for a small building.

 

[moeh1]

IMO board and batten siding is one of the most attractive wood sidings there is...I've seen some very original paint combinations that can make them look surreal...


The beauty of cypress if left entirely unfinished it gets a very attractive grey patina....

I agree, but recently seen a couple pictures with reverse B&B (where the batten is under the board). That seemed rather unique to me.