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Board and batten siding used on an outbuilding in the U.S. (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comBoard & Batten Siding
Modern & antique or historical wood siding

This article describes vertical board and batten siding, a wood siding method that is centuries old.

Board and batten siding uses vertical boards nailed to horizontal beams that form the structural skeleton of a building.

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Board & Batten Wood Siding

Board and batten siding (C) Daniel FriedmanShown in our photo, traditional board and batten siding (Pleasant Valley, NY) traditionally used on barns but popular on homes and other structures too..

Definition of board and batten siding: vertical boards butted side by side to form the exterior covering of a building combined with vertical battens to cover the side butt joints between boards.

Battens: Gaps at the side butt joints of vertical wood siding are covered by nailing a narrow wood batten over that opening, and when installed using traditional nailing methods, the carpenter takes care to nail the batten only on one side to avoid splitting.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Modern board and batten siding is installed using a wide range of methods and materials including at least

Below: Vertical vinyl siding from CertainTeed, photo retrieved 2018/12/25, original source https://www.certainteed.com/siding/vertical-siding/

CertainTeed insulated 10" board and batten vertical siding at InspectApedia.com

Examples of Traditional Wood Vertical Siding using Board & Battens

Black stains on cypress board siding, Arkansas (C) InspectApedia RH

Above and below, a cyprus wood board and batten siding left un-treated, exposed to the weather. We discuss approaches to dealing with the black stains on this board and batten home at

SIDING, WOOD CLEANERS, STAINS, PAINTS

Black stains on cypress board siding, Arkansas (C) InspectApedia RH

Vertical Nailing & Joint Treatment on Board & Batten Sided Buildings

Board & batten nailing and board on board nailing details adapted from US FPL cited in detail at Inspectapedia.com

Above: details of traditional board and batten nailing (upper drawing in our image) adapted from a 1983 US FPL article cited below.

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JamesHardie's modern board and batten siding installation manual cited at the end of this article describes four methods of treating the vertical joint between HardieBoard® panels.

Three of these are for panels on which battens will not be added, and are not described here, but you can read those details in our citation. Those panel butt joints are either in contact and back-flashed, caulked, or closed with a manufactured metal or vinyl H-channel.

One of JamesHardie's details is useful to also illustrate how board and battens are installed for HardieBoard® panels and is excerpted here.

Below: details of panel battens also illustrate traditional board and batten installation, adapted from JamesHardie's instructions cited below.

Battened panel joint from JamesHardie cited in detatil at InspectApedia.com

Horizontal Joint Treatment on Faux Plywood or Sheet Sided Board and Batten Buildings

Below: a modern board and batten sided building I inspected in 2001 - this was not my siding job and this is NOT JamesHardie board and batten Hardieboard siding. In this photo we see that the apparently un-flashed horizontal joints are likely to lead to trouble.

Board and batten type siding (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Watch out: The horizontal trim board shown above wants to trap water against the wood siding, inviting leaks or rot.

Horizontal joints will occur on any building sided with either manufactured panels or traditional wood boards if the panel or board height is less than the wall height.

There are two acceptable methods of horizontal board and batten siding treatment that will avoid leaks and rot:

Board and batten horizontal joint treatment using zee flashing (C) InspectApedia.com adapted from JamesHardie cited in detail in this article

Horizontal Zee Flashing between the abutting surfaces - shown above.

Wider horizontal zee flashing combined with a horizontal trim board or "decorative band board" as JamesHardie illustrates below.

Wider zee flashing over horizontal band board or trim board with board and batten siding (C) Inspectapedia.com adapted from James Hardie and cited in detail in this article

Watch out: do not caulk the under-side of the upper vertical siding at the flashing or you'll invite siding rot.

Most manufacturers specify a 1/4" gap between the upper horizontal surface of the zee flashing and the under-side or lower edge of the wood or panel siding just above.

Watch out: if vertical siding is installed without battens, leaving off housewrap and back flashing between veritical boards is fine on a barn where the extra ventilation helped dry the siding and the building could count on the cows not to gripe.

But on a modern building intended to be enclosed as conditioned space such as a heated or air conditioned home or workshop, back-flashing between vertical joints using felt or housewrap or other suitable material is essential to avoid leaks into the wall structure.

All types of sheet material should have a joint caulked with mastic unless the joints are of the interlapping or matched type or battens are installed. Putting a strip of 15-pound asphalt felt under uncaulked joints is good practice. - (U.S. FPL 1983)

Board & Batten Vertical Siding Installation & Painting Guides


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Citations & References

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