Ideas needed for open cladding rainscreen.
MikefromtheMountainsofUtah
| Posted in General Questions on
I spoke with the architect, and he mentioned they used reclaimed 2x12s on this home. Between the open cladding, there’s cedar that you see between the gap, but I didn’t get a chance to ask if there are vertical battens behind the horizontal cedar. I’m guessing there is an additional vertical layer of furring strips all the horizontals are mounted on, but either way it seems to defeat the benefit of open cladding by sandwiching the 2×12’s with horizontal cedar boards.
Any Ideas on how to copy this look? Zone 5 so I’m not worried about rot and will only be applying lifetime wood treatment to the boards.
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Replies
Mike,
It looks like a horizontal reverse board and batten to me. If it isn't mounted on vertical strapping it would be a very vulnerable system. With the strapping you are still going to get a lot of moisture on the backside of the cladding, and while the wall will probably be okay (especially in your climate), the cedar won't last as long as more forgiving assemblies.
So it's not really an open-cladding - which from my perspective only make sense in very dry climates. Open-cladding does allow better drying both for the siding itself, and the cavity, but a the same time transfers the burden of keeping the wall from exterior water intrusion to the WRB behind. Given that keeping water out is the primary purpose of cladding, it has never made much sense to me, and gets used more for the looks than any practical reasons.
Mike,
That's a fairly common detail around here that is often used to put a modern spin on the log cabin look. The horizontal battens sorta represent chinking, without looking like an 80s vacation cottage. I can't speak to that house personally, but I can almost guarantee there are vertical furring strips behind it for a rain screen gap.
Quick sketch attached with a couple options. I've installed it both ways, I think the version where you let the horizontal batten into the 2x12 is a bit slicker and keeps the wall buildup smaller, but it is more labor to mill all those pieces.
Are you set on the mitered corners? I've seen some pretty cool ways of handling outside corners with that look. One is to have a thin blade of steel come out off the corner at a 45° angle and run continuously up the wall vertically, which removes the worry about the miter opening up over time. Another is to go all-in on the log look and have the end grain exposed. The example photo attached mitered a full timber end grain chunk on to alternating boards at the corners. I've also seen this done where they started with a 6x12, milled it into a 2x12 but left a big chunk of full 6x8 at alternate ends for use at corners, and used the remaining middle part of the timber for ceiling and wall finishes on the interior. An example of that is here:
https://www.highline-partners.com/portfolio-details-yellow-hammer
Thanks Malcom. On a full liquid wrb so I'm optimistic that the house will be ok.
Paul, Option one that you drew looks smart. The further the cladding comes off the wall the harder it is for my windows to look right so that would be perfect, and yes I have seen the angled steel at the corners. What a slick look that is to stay away from the miter.
Do you have any thoughts on fastening the 2x12's? I'm thinking they must have sunk screws because I can't see a single exposed screw head.
Mike,
You could probably drop down to a 1/2" rainscreen gap and save yourself another 1/4" with option 1 above. One one project I installed similar siding on, we ripped and cut 2" x 2" plywood squares, which went behind the horizontal battens and were stapled to framing, then we fastened the actual siding through to framing with screws. Even more open air behind the cladding this way than vertical battens, though it is also more finicky to do.
The more rustic the wood, the easier it'll be to hide your fasteners. When I've installed siding like this, I've used trim head screws, and you can be pretty strategic about where you place them (ie, in imperfections in the wood, get behind a check, etc) so that they almost completely go away. Standard out here seems to be Western Builders Supply Big Timber ceramic-coated screws, which are really similar to GRKs.
There are also clip systems if you can get your wood edges with the correct profile. These make it easier as you don't need any strapping behind. ie:
https://gasthome.com/product/wood-cladding-passive-rainscreen-system/
There are also panel mounting clip systems that mount to the back of the wood panel. These are more labor as you have to get everything properly aligned for it to be even.