Wood Siding Recomendations

[Beltzington]

Merry Xmas Everyone!

Hope to start building our vacation/retirement home in a couple months, just finishing up with minor changes to the building plans. House will be 1.5 story with full walkout (exposed walls will be covered with natural stone) basement, standard wood framing and I am trying to narrow down what siding to use. Not interested in using vinyl or cement siding as I want to have a classic natural look, think expensive horse barn.

Anyone have any strong opinions of what worked for them or didn't? I am leaning toward cedar but even that comes in a multitude of styles and grades. How about prep requirements, clear or knotty, vertical or horizontal (no singles), finish sealants and stains. Looking for lessons learned that won't cost me anything but my time and yours. Thanks!

 

[Steppenwolfe]

A good, hardy plank siding job is hard to beat, and in my opinion, better than vinyl or even wood. As for real wood, stay away from the plywood, T-11 products. Cedar is good, but expensive, and not the cedar of days gone by as far as quality. Try looking deep south for Cypress, if you can afford it.

 

[Amelia Farms]

I have used cypress on every structure I have built in the last 20 years. I buy it in eastern NC straight from the sawmills, either board and batten or lap siding. On the house I use Cabot stains. Other structures I leave natural, no coatings at all.

I build my structures with generous overhangs all around, minimum of 18", 24" is better.
No wood within 18" of the ground.

So far, so good. I have not had to replace 1 pc of siding ever. Still on the original stain job on the house we currently live in, 6 years and looks good as new.

 

[farmer2009]

A good, hardy plank siding job is hard to beat, and in my opinion, better than vinyl or even wood. As for real wood, stay away from the plywood, T-11 products. Cedar is good, but expensive, and not the cedar of days gone by as far as quality. Try looking deep south for Cypress, if you can afford it.

May I ask why you don't like the time-11 sidings.

 

[Oaktree]

May I ask why you don't like the time-11 sidings.

Can't speak for the OP, but IMHO it looks kind of tacky on a house. OK for a shed or garage maybe. I've seen it delaminate if it gets/stays wet.

I like cedar shakes myself. A bit time consuming to install, but are forgiving on buildings that are somewhat less than square/plumb. To save costs, I just snarfed up broken bundles at Lowes or HD for a couple years before starting on the project...if you ask they'll mark 'em down quite a bit, sometimes half off.

 

[andrec999]

My daughter just did major renovations on her house and used Maibec, it is wood that is treated and guaranteed for 50 yrs . A bit expensive, but no painting is needed and it comes in many colours.
Request Rejected

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you going to stain or paint the siding? How much time are you prepared to spend on it every year to maintain it?

The advantage of Hardie is that once you are done with it, you are done with it. Every species of real wood that you use will require maintenance. Depending on the species and your location, and the type of finish you want, this can be a simple as just inspecting it and making sure your caulking is good, to staining it every other year to washing and killing mold several times a year. I love working with wood, but would never use it for an exterior product on anything I own.

Hardie is my favorite.

I like the cedar shingle suggestion. I haven't used cypress so I can't comment on it, but I have some experience with pine and cedar lap siding. The cost is crazy. The pine likes to rot fairly quickly if it can get wet. Cedar is too expensive for most and they rarely go that way once they get the price.

Big porches all the way around the house is the secret to real wood siding, or log homes.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[PILOON]

I have also used Hardie siding and am impressed with the product. We added a 2nd story to a house that used rustic wavy ceder siding and to march the new level was really cost prohibitive in ceder.
Solution was a liquidation lot of Hardie primed only siding that we installed vertically and then stained both levels to match.
The result was very impressive and 10 years later still looks as good as the day we installed it.
Downside is it did cost us a few saw blades cutting the Hardie but that was minor.
Hardie is rot proof, fire proof, insect proof and looks good (and darn close to wood).

The only other reasonable product (IMHO) is Canexel which we have used a lot of in my area.
Canexel is like a hardened Masonite that is factory stained, tough, durable and easy to maintain. They have a wide variety of styles (vertical and horozontal) and colors and even a 4 x 8 sheet that imitates stucco like used in Tudor style.
If needed It can also be re stained.

 

[sld]

Hardie is good stuff but far from perfect. It is a little brittle if impacted with hail stones (or baseballs, etc...) and it can delaminate when it ages and gets old and really wet. Again, good stuff but not perfect.

The smart lap siding is pretty good too and much easier to work with. I've experimented with scraps of it by leaving them in wet locations and it has held up well. They must use a waterproof glue to hold it all together. I have yet to make one start to come apart in my little "test".

I've used both as repairs for masonite on a few houses in the family. As of now, I give the slight nod to the smart lap.

 

[ultrarunner]

Still some going with clear heart redwood... there is a mill in Davenport and they have trucks coming and going all the time...

Some of the cottages around here are redwood that date from 1900 and the redwood is still good...

Only suggested it because you mentioned expensive horse barn and I saw pictures of one recently built in Atherton CA and it was redwood to meet design review requirements.