Thorfun

we thought that but we're planning on having hidden fixing shiplap cladding so hopefully none of the fixings will be seen!

for the bit circled in red we were unsure if we should just join them half over the batten behind like @JamesP did or stagger them like @Gone West did! looking at it now it looks a bit 'wrong'. should we keep the run straight and sit them both joining on the same vertical? btw, we did it like that as the battens we have aren't long enough to do that entire width.

we've made a start and before we get too far I thought it prudent to post a picture so people can critique our work. I'm happy for good and bad comments! I promise I won't take it personally.

great photos and information, thank you!

thanks for the photos, they're very useful. I see the staggering of the horizontal battens, how did that affect the fixing of the vertical cladding, if at all? and when you say 'very slight slope' was that a sideways slope to drain left to right or front to back slope (which I'm struggling to think how to do unless you put packers behind the top of the batten)?

is this still necessary with the vertical battening? won't any water drain down them? or is it wise to use cambered battens so that any water hitting the horizontal battens falls rather than sits on the horizontal battens? thanks for the link. I did have that open in a tab to read but hadn't done so yet and this is a very timely reminder! ? we've already planned insect mesh at the bottom of the cladding. in fact one reason we decided to not use open jointed cladding and are going for shiplap tongue and groove is to negate the need for an insect mesh all over (although some say it's not necessary).

that is a very good question! none of the architects/BR drawings mention them, the TF company didn't supply them and BCO hasn't mentioned them at all. BUT....I am not going to assume they're not required and I will make some inquiries with the relevant professionals next week. my nail gun is one of the best tools I've bought. ? but, I quite like the idea of the horizontal battens fixing through the verticals and into the studs rather than just attaching to the vertical battens. I'll have a think about that one although the roofer has put 2 x 47mm battens at the ends of the roof to lay slates out and past the cladding and they're just nailed with 90mm nails and he stands on them to get off the roof and they've not come down yet so I'm thinking the 90mm nails should be strong enough. thanks. I'll check out the ebook. any tips or hints or pearls of wisdom that you learnt when doing yours?

Greetings. while we still have the scaffolding up I will be embarking on fitting the counter battens and battens for our vertical timber cladding. In doing my research on this subject I found https://www.robbins.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/TTF-Cladding-Handbook.pdf but it doesn't really go in to detail how to batten/counter batten it just mentions 600mm centers really. I've been through the https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/141-general-joinery/ forum but there's not much information on there either. so, either it's actually really simple to do and I'm worried about nothing or it's one of those special secrets that no one wants to share! I thought I'd start a thread where people could add their tips, hints, gotchas, what not to dos, mistakes, successes, photos and so on when it comes to battening. In my situation, for vertical timber cladding I will be starting with the vertical counter battens. they will be 47mm x 47mm battens and then horizontal 47mm x 47mm battens to fix the vertical cladding to ((we need 80mm minimum to hide the external blinds behind the cladding) and I have a few questions. 1. do I put vertical battens on EVERY stud that is marked on the membrane by the timber frame company? even if those studs are less than 600mm centers? 2. do I start and end the vertical battens at the very edge of every corner of the house? And then I presume the fixing (horizontal battens) protrude out further to join with the horizontal battens on the other wall? something like this? 3. what do you do at gable ends. is it the done thing to cut the vertical battens to match the pitch of the roof or do you just leave them square and a little down from the top of the roof? e.g. which one of these? 4. and then with the horizontal battens do you cut to match the pitch of the roof or is that just excessive? 5. how do you detail around windows and doors for the battening? vertical battens in the way as the drawing in question 2 like the outside corner of a building? 6. fixings? with our 47mm battens I was just going to use 90mm nails from the nail gun. too much? 7. is it just me that has all these questions and others just get on with it without making such a fuss? looking forward to reading other people's input. thanks in advance.

these are wise words. at the start I wanted everything perfect like it was on the drawings. it didn't take long to realise that reality is completely different to CAD drawings and building is just not a precise science. our Groundworker summed it up when he said 'building is basically a bodge'. by that he means that things will go wrong and so you find a solution to get over that and so on. then at the end of it all it's all covered up and forgotten about!

and then the groundworkers come along and ignore it all. ?

@GaryM looks great! we were originally planning to do as @GaryM did and had the black Tyvek UV Facade membrane put on so we didn't see the usual silver through the open cladding but after much deliberation and the thought of painting over 1km of battens black so they wouldn't be visible behind the charred timber cladding we decided to simply go for a tongue-and-groove type shadow gap profile like this. that way we didn't have to worry about a load of insect mesh as well as all the other stuff!

yep, agreed. but I can't do it all on my own and have to pick and choose my battles. these were one I was happy to get someone else to coordinate.

it was a very impressive display. I walked straight past it to the Festool section. ?

well, is it @pocster?

maybe, but I am having one company do the ASHP, MVHR and Solar PV/Battery so it's all under one roof. less hassle for, probably, more cost.

ok. then I'm not really losing anything so no need to bust a gut to get finished by end of march!

A98

welcome. I can highly recommend Mark Brinkley's Housebuilder's Bible as a great book to start with. he covers a lot of stuff from beginning to end and is a great reference to refer back to during the build. oh....and spend the next 3 months reading the forums on here! Although 3 months might not be enough. ?

going through this with our build but with the ASHP. there's no way we'll get the house finished by end of march in order to the EPC to get the RHI payments. it's a shame but there's not a lot I can do now. I guess I could throw money at the build and try and get it done quicker but then that'll end up costing more than any RHI payments I would get back!

if anyone is looking to get a laser level I just received this email from Huepar.

we've all had this conversation many times before and for some, me included, it's not about economics at all. it's about a warm fuzzy feeling that I will be generating my own electricity and I won't be as reliant on the grid. but everyone's situation is different.

welcome. loads of good tips and advice on here! the search function is your friend and your source for hours of reading. ?

please check with building control but I got rid of this 50mm requirement by having battens and counter battens on the rafters. this gives me 50mm of space between our fully filled rafters and the breathable membrane. I used Roofshield but it also seems that the Cromar Vent 3 Pro is breathable for warm roofs, and I'm sure there are other options as well. but please don't take my word as gospel and get it checked by professionals.

does this help?

hmmm....I wonder if one of those intelligent AVCLs would help here as it would let moisture back in to the house in the summer months, right?