Top 10 Things You Should Know About Siding
Siding is one of the most important stages to get right with residential construction for several reasons. It is the first line of defense from the elements; making sure that adequate budget, time, and expertise is spent on the siding system will save time and money elsewhere. The siding system will register the greatest effects of weathering than any other element on a home; for better or worse, the sun’s rays, the driving rain, expansion and contraction will all play a role in how the siding looks in the decades to come –good design anticipates the effects of weathering. More than most aspects of a home, the siding system communicates the philosophy of the design; does the siding reflect the functions of the home or does it conceal the nature of the spaces inside, does the siding create a visual harmony around the structure or does it break the volumes into smaller scales? Lastly, the siding is the face to the outside world; is it integrated with its environment and its neighbors, confidently defiant, or obstinately forward-thinking within a traditional context? These are all important aspects to work through with the design of a siding system. We’ve got 10 pointers to share about siding systems; as always, we’d love to hear about your advice for siding systems.
[Kirsch Residence by BUILD LLC]
FOR WOOD SIDING SYSTEMS (typically cedar):
1. Use 3/4” material, prefinished on all sides with all cuts treated; this will significantly increase the life of wood siding.
2. Make sure that there is adequate pigment in the stain so that the siding can hold up against the inevitable breakdown from UV rays.
[Brodersen Remodel by BUILD LLC]
3. Specify custom flashings that match the finish of the siding material; capping walls and elements cleanly significantly improves the finished look of the siding system. A good example of this is the situation at window heads where an unintentional and chunky detail can visually spoil the siding system.
4. The wood should always be held a minimum of 1/8” away from flashings to reduce staining and wicking.
[Kirsch Residence by BUILD LLC]
5. Set-up the window/door patterns and the details for trim-less exterior profiles well in advance of installing the siding. When it comes time to install the siding, it should be a simple matter of following instructions that have been previously thought-out.
6. Organize the siding system into clean planes of siding and glass. This sharpens up the project and typically creates a simple set of rules for the siding system to follow.
[Kirsch Residence by BUILD LLC]
[Davidson Residence by BUILD LLC]
FOR PANELIZED SIDING SYSTEMS:
7. Always pick modules that are slightly less than the sheet material size. Sheets can be slightly trapezoidal, edges can get dinged, etc. Allow for a margin that can be trimmed off the panels, since you can’t add onto the panels (without doubling amount of panels).
8. True cement board panels like Sill-LEED are more expensive up-front, but they are no-maintenance in future (the siding system needs to be a rainscreen system for true cement board panels).
[Davidson Residence by BUILD LLC]
9. Smooth Hardie-Board panels are a good option for inexpensive rainscreen systems or applied systems as long as all the edges are primed/ painted and all the penetrations are treated carefully. The material has a paper pulp composition which has always concerned us a bit (hence the full coverage with the weather proofing).
10. Review your material, paint & stain samples outside in true lighting conditions. There’s a big difference between natural daylight and incandescent/fluorescent interior lighting when it comes to siding samples.
[Davidson Residence by BUILD LLC]
You can check out a previous post on rainscreens for an explanation of the concept, some details and a handful of built case-studies. You might also find our post on parapet detailing useful.
Cheers from team BUILD
By damian, November 15, 2011 @ 6:52 am
Great post,thanks!
By Kyle, November 15, 2011 @ 7:46 am
I’m looking at doing some cedar siding on parts of my home, do you put a good coating of clear poly over the finished wood to keep from weathering? I just wonder what the wood looks like on these homes 10-20 years from now…. Great looking projects BTW!
By matt, November 15, 2011 @ 8:52 am
I also wonder what you prefer for wood siding:
We love stained cedar, but it weathers quickly when in the hot So Cal sun. Have you used Ipe, Ironwood, or others, and how did you find the cost/durability tradeoff to be?
By Daniel, November 15, 2011 @ 1:40 pm
Thanks for the post — I love the technical/construction -oriented posts.
I think this has been mentioned in passing before, but what do you think about open gaps in a rainscreen? Do you trust the WRB (Wallshield or sim.) to withstand UV? Do you worry about insects (in the NW)?
Lastly, I’ve been reading a lot about exterior rigid insulation — more insulation, moves the dew point outside of the framing, (helps) eliminates thermal bridging, etc. Is this a system you’ve used? Would you recommend it? Do you have issues with attaching siding through the rigid insulation or using furring strips large enough to completely accommodate the siding.
Sorry for the list of questions — I respect the work you do and would love to hear a response (or better a detailed post?).
Thanks,
By Kyle, November 16, 2011 @ 5:58 am
I can’t do a rainscreen in east texas… If I did, there would be an infestation of wasp nests and a lovely flying bug we call dirt-dobbers…
However, I have heard of people putting up the material used in screened porches behind the panels… but that just seems like it would collect dust/blowing grass/junk over time.
By Kevin E, November 16, 2011 @ 8:32 am
Kyle-
We use a Sikken’s translucent stain- we’ve found that as long as their is adequate pigment in the oil-based product, and all surfaces are prefinished, the siding has a long life before refinish. These types of products typically don’t want to be top-coated with anything else.
As for rainscreens, we have installed these systems with pest-proof measures: flashings at board junctions, coravent type backers at edges, screens at other spots, etc.- these seem to be pretty effective.
By Kevin E, November 16, 2011 @ 8:34 am
Matt,
We’ve found these types of non-kiln-fired woods are unstable as siding materials. We’ve seen two issues: 1. they shrink/ check which can adversely effect the appearance of the rainscreen shortly after install, and 2. the force generated by the boards ‘stabilizing’ can be detrimental to the weatherproofing and firring behind them. In our opinion, it’s best to use a stable product (kiln-fired woods, engineered panels) as the screen.
By Kevin E, November 16, 2011 @ 8:38 am
Daniel-
I think the previous post,
http://blog.buildllc.com/2008/03/rainscreens/
on rainscreens, along with links to Vaproshield and the like will help answer some questions.
Having said that, we use small enough gaps (1/4″) on our screens so that the weather barrier doesn’t ever ‘see’ UV. And we haven’t encountered pest issues, but our thought has always been that the panels are removable in the event that this needed to be aggressively addressed down the road.
We haven’t use rigid insulation behind rainscreens- typically wood-framed walls packed with batt insulation.
By Janvin, November 16, 2011 @ 7:13 pm
As usual, great post! We’ve just broken ground on an infill project up here in Vancouver which will be calling for vertically oriented cedar siding. The detail for our rainscreening/strapping behind the cedar siding calls for vertical strapping (for the rainscreen) then horizontal cross-strapping for the vertical siding both w/ 1X’s – as you might imagine, this can be a bit bulky. Have you guys detailed your rainscreen/strapping for the vertical siding differently and if so, I’d love to see what you guys have done to minimize the “build-out” effect of rainscreen+strapping. Thanks guys!
By Mark Scott, November 18, 2011 @ 12:52 pm
“Make sure that there is adequate pigment in the stain”
Good point. A homeowner isn’t going to be very pleased with your work if the siding only makes it one summer before it starts to fade.