ToughButterCup Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 (edited) Do I need to put a counter batten lower than the one in this photo? Apologies for the dreadful photo: the bottom of the (faded) blue batten is 300 mm below the counter batten. The bottom of the cladding will be about 300 mm below the counterbatten in the photo. On the rest of the wall, I'm spacing the counter battens at 400 mm centers This TDCA image shows 600 centers... Edited May 7, 2021 by ToughButterCup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudda Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Yes put in an additional horizontal batten at the end of the vertical (faded blue) batten to support the ends of the boards. The spacing of the horizontal battens (400 or 600) might depend on the thickness of the cladding boards and the potential impact it will receive. eg if it was cladding a classroom facing a school playground where kids are playing and kicking a ball against you can be sure you'd need them at 400 no matter what the manufactures diagram says about 600mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 Thanks. I think. Are my knees up to the challenge? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonD Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 6 hours ago, ToughButterCup said: Thanks. I think. Are my knees up to the challenge? ? You need these they feel a bit weird at first but they really do work. Saved my knees many times. BTW what's the tape/membrane you're using at the plinth? Is it just bitumen felt or is it 'fleeced' - hard to tell in the pic. I'm trying to find a fleeced bit of membrane to go between some timber and aluminium flashing, but might just plump with epdm tape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 Are there gaps between your cladding planks? What are you doing about insect mesh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted May 7, 2021 Share Posted May 7, 2021 I’m still sorting this but I’ve done cross batten at top of brick plinth height with a stainless steel mesh stapled to frame wrapping under counter battens and stapled to face of cross batten. Tongue and groove larch will get stainless steel screwed to the cross batten at some point in 2021… cladding will drop circa 20mm below bottom of cross batten is the current plan, maybe with a slight chamfered profile, who knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted May 10, 2021 Author Share Posted May 10, 2021 On 07/05/2021 at 18:36, ProDave said: Are there gaps between your cladding planks? What are you doing about insect mesh? Yes, 10mm. No. Whassapoint? Had a Pest Control company come and give us advice. He pointed to the building across the field: exactly the same construction but with 30mm gaps. The membrane is Tyvek (summatorotherthatsbloodyexpensive) Quattro, and the bottom membrane is a lead replacement called Ubliflex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markocosic Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 1 mm gaps are "too small" for bugs to enter. 100 mm gaps are "too exposed" for bugs to enjoy living behind them. At some point you reach an optimum between "big enough for ease of access" and "small enough to offer protection from the elements" that the bugs love. 10 mm and 30 mm is different. You might be approaching small enough for the bugs to think it's a great place to be. We had a similar debate - open-gap-bloodyexpensiveUVmembrane-and-risk-bugs vs boardonboardand-and-1mm-mesh-to-openings - which was resolved after 2 murder hornets and 3 sets of wasps set up shop in the house even before we got the cladding on! Depends what lives in the area and what their other choices are as much as anything else. On the counter batten: I'd put a floating batten just above the bottom of your cladding. It doesn't need to be attached to the vertical to "keep the ends of the boards tied together in a nice neat plane" as it were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted June 24, 2021 Author Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, markocosic said: .... On the counter batten: I'd put a floating batten just above the bottom of your cladding. It doesn't need to be attached to the vertical to "keep the ends of the boards tied together in a nice neat plane" as it were. Yisssss! Posted just in time. Thanks very much. It takes me a-long-time-to-get-stuff-done. ? Sometimes that's a good thing eh? 27 minutes ago, markocosic said: ... 10 mm and 30 mm is different. You might be approaching small enough for the bugs to think it's a great place to be. ... I agree. I have one year's worth of data now. By that I mean a year of looking most days, looking carefully when the wasps woke up, and more closely still in recent weeks. I took advice from a local pest control person and his take on it was that 10mm (our gap) was likely to be big enough to cool behind the gaps sufficient to discourage colonisation. He suggested I call him towards Back End for a thorough once over. His charge for a Call Out - £45. Anyone else, its north of £280. I'll have a cherry picker available then: should be interesting. I'll try and remember to update this post. Edited June 24, 2021 by ToughButterCup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markocosic Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 You're getting it done quicker than we are! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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