Something I've had a hard time finding information on while researching for the house is ply and batten siding. I have seen a couple of people do it, but in terms of specifics like what they used and why they used it, there hasn't been much said. So after a bit of thinking I decided I was just going to forge ahead anyways and make sure to be very specific about my process.
Part of the reason I decided to use ply and batten(traditionally called board and batten) is because of the price. Not long after researching prices to see what I could get for my $10,000 budget I found the traditional tiny house siding of lap cedar, or even pine, was going to be too expensive for me. So I started looking around and ran the numbers and ply and batten came in at a grand total of about $375. The other thing I really like about it is how fast it will be to put up(I'm assuming here as I haven't actually put it up yet). With lap siding I'd have to stain each individual piece and nail it to the house. With ply and batten I can throw up big 4'x8' sheets of plywood and a few 1x3's and get instant gratification. And for the prices and effort to do this instead of lap siding, I feel it's a fair trade off for the looks I'll be getting. My first choice would be pained 4-6" lap siding, but my second choice that I'd be nearly just as happy with is board and batten and because I'm not head over heals in love with one look over the other, it makes sense to save the $200-300 and just go with the cheaper option.
And for those who aren't familiar with board and batten siding, here's an example of what it looks like:
Part of the reason I decided to use ply and batten(traditionally called board and batten) is because of the price. Not long after researching prices to see what I could get for my $10,000 budget I found the traditional tiny house siding of lap cedar, or even pine, was going to be too expensive for me. So I started looking around and ran the numbers and ply and batten came in at a grand total of about $375. The other thing I really like about it is how fast it will be to put up(I'm assuming here as I haven't actually put it up yet). With lap siding I'd have to stain each individual piece and nail it to the house. With ply and batten I can throw up big 4'x8' sheets of plywood and a few 1x3's and get instant gratification. And for the prices and effort to do this instead of lap siding, I feel it's a fair trade off for the looks I'll be getting. My first choice would be pained 4-6" lap siding, but my second choice that I'd be nearly just as happy with is board and batten and because I'm not head over heals in love with one look over the other, it makes sense to save the $200-300 and just go with the cheaper option.
And for those who aren't familiar with board and batten siding, here's an example of what it looks like:
After thinking about all of that and doing a lot of research about plywoods, I decided to go with 3/8" CDX(rated for light outdoor exposure) and strips of 1x3 pine. I still have to run down to the local lumber yard to see if I want to buy a regular 1x3 or get 1x4's instead and rip them down to a 1x3 so they have nice, clean edges, but that's another post. Anyway, last week I bought 16 sheets of plywood and this weekend John helped me lay them out on the lawn and fill in all the holes with wood filler before priming them. I could have picked up a nicer, hole free, 3/8" AC plywood but that was about $22 a sheet when 3/8" CDX was $14.95 a sheet plus two jars of wood filler at $15.96.
Filling all the holes and cracks on one side of the wood was pretty easy work(the backside doesn't need to be filled since no one will see it). We just got to sit on the lawn in the sun for about an hour and squish goo into places. Then we left it to dry for 2-3 hours in the sun. The instructions on the back of the filler said it'd only take 15-30 minutes to dry but I really globed it in there and I ended up taking a nap for a bit too. After everything was dry we took some 60 grit sand paper to a vibrating sander and sanded all the wood filler smooth. That took about 2 hours and was a little sucky. If I was doing it alone, without any help, I probably would have hated it. However John and I took turns while the other hug out, which made it much more bearable.
Next, because it was about to rain, we moved them into the garage for priming and painting. I ended up getting a 5 gallon bucket of Kilz 2 Exterior Latex primer and have liked it a lot so far. Wood is notorious for being a paint hog and sucking up whatever you put on it but this Kilz 2 was pretty thick and had good coverage. I still ended up putting 2 coats of primer on the front to get everything but I feel pretty confident my Glidden Exterior paint will stick well and look nice(and maybe even take 1 coat?). On the backside, one coat of primer will do the trick to help seal the wood from water, if it ever encounters any(I'd rather be safe than sorry).
This is as far as I have gotten on the siding project, but I'll be doing another post once I get my battens figured out and I start putting everything up. Let me know if there are any questions.