So, yes, I know I haven't posted in almost a month. I am sorry. I have not, how ever, been just sitting back and relaxing for the past 20 or so days. I forget where I left off, and am very tired, so this post will be quick but very rewarding.
First, I had to get a table saw. I did that, total success.
My my, what a sexy table saw.
Then we spent a week worrying about killing or maiming ourselves using the table saw.
I also spent a lot of time that week complaining how
it was hotter outside than Satan's crotch.
Then we got back to work.
The first thing we did was run five 4”x4” boards through, cutting a 2”x2” strip out of them and making really good looking cornerpieces. We put those up to frame the house. With cornerpieces this nice, I realized that the previous window treatment I did looked comparitavely crappy. So, I did a little demo on the house (it's not even close to done yet and I'm already doing improvement projects), ripped some 2”x4” boards in half, sanded, beveled and stained them to create really nice window trim.
Finally, we started cutting and dadoing the boards. There are no pictures of this because running a 150” board takes all three of us to do. Cutting out the wheel wells with a jigsaw proved to be the most annoying to get correct and have the least margin of error.
This makes it look about 1000x less tedious than it was.
But we did it. We worked our asses off, I fell asleep three times sitting up because I was so tired, and I accidentally dropped a small board in between the siding and the wall at the end of the day (a mistake which I have absolutely no chance of rectifying), but we got it done. I present to you, the progression of the siding:
Looking good...
Almost...
Taking a short break to do pull ups on the door frame...
HELL YEAH!
Awwww yeaaaah. I am so happy not to have a giant advertisement for TYVEK TYVEK TYVEK TYVEK in the yard. I'm probably going to stain the boards the same or a little darker color than the cornerpieces and trim are, so it's not a totally finished look yet, but I'm very happy. Even better, we're 5 boards up on the opposite side and still have another day left in the weekend!
Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed the pics.
***
Schematics:
We put the boards up using 3” hot dipped galvanized casing nails along the run and 3” red decking screws along the sides. The nails hold up just fine, the screws are there for extra strength because the ends of the boards don't match up with a stud. There's no glue behind these boards. I have come to discover that using glue is a very, very stupid idea. Mr. Ed disapproves of such methods.
We used nylon mesh screen at the bottom of the boards to make sure no creepy crawlies run up in there. We folded it under and over the furring, making it effectively one long screen.
Using dadoed or bevel siding is really nice because it gives you a wiiiiide margin of error if the board is crooked/wobbly/screwed up because of human error. Tongue and groove does not have this luxury.
Using furring strips serves a few purposes. It helps you see where the stud is inside the house so you can effectively secure the boards. It also adds an air space between the siding and sheeting. This helps with condensation and rain (they drip out the bottom as opposed so waterlogging the wood.) as well as provides much better insulation (the rate of heat transfer is much worse in air than it is in a solid.). Just make sure to use furring under everything (including the window trim and the cornerpieces) so that everything sticks out the right amount.
It's a good idea to use a block to make sure you're drilling the holes in the same spot on each board. Use a scrap piece of 1"x2" furring so that you can consistently put the nail in 1 1/2" above the bottom of the board. This just helps it look nice.
Use a nail punch to get the nails sunk into the board and then cover up the tiny spot with paintable wood putty. Leave about 1/8" on either side of the board (where it butts up to any trim or cornerpieces) so that you can caulk it. Too snug, and the caulk will peel off. Too loose, and you'll use gobs of caulk to fill it in.
Alright, that's it for now. I'm going to sleep so I can wake up early and get at it tomorrow.
