Board and Batten construction

[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.