Vertical non profiled timber cladding as a rain shield

[dnoble]

I'm building an MBC SIPs passive house and investigating cladding.

Doing it on a tight budget and and found a source of Douglas Fir plain boards. 

I'm wondering if these, fixed close, or even with a small gap, fixed vertically on battening would provide a sufficient cover for the house, bearing in mind there's a membrane under the battening.

The prevailing wind-ward walls are fairly well sheltered by balconies and brise-soleil-type canopy. Some wind driven rain might penetrate between the boards but should be able to drain/dry out easily.

One issue is that I'd prefer the boards went vertically which would mean there'd be horizontal battens (with wouldn't allow penetrated water to drain down), though these could I suppose be mounted on a second set of vertical battens  so provide drainage?

So I'm wondering if I can get away with pain edges boards or should I cough up extra and get profiles ones with overlaps/shiplaps/T&G

Any advice appreciated!

Dan

EastAndWestElevations.pdf

SouthElevation.pdf

[IanR]

How about board-on-board vertical cladding?

 

For vertical cladding, counter battening would be preferable, but at a push you could use just a horizontal batten with a chamfered top edge, to push any water away from the membrane.

 

I wouldn't personally go with square edged, butted together boards as once they shrink and move it won't look pretty. I have seen vertical cladding with a design gap, but not sure what treatment went beneath to ensure weather tightness. IIRC the membrane and battening were also dark/black to stop them being visible. 

 

Edit: Welcome to the forum

 

Is that a steel structure, perhaps based on Barnhaus?

Edited August 13, 2017 by IanR

[Ferdinand]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Is the D for Richard, and are you the person who built those jet-powered world record speed cars? Fun, if so. 

 

However.

 

To me the proposal for that cladding does not sound sufficiently "belt and braces". It could be mitigated by eg planting an evergreen windbreak reasonably close, which would help with the type of driving rain which might be a problem.

 

I wonder if face-edge-face-edge cladding or vertical on vertical as suggested above (like a hit and miss fence with no inside gap) would be preferable? The second pic below is the horizontal version of what I call face-edge-face-edge. I can see that a vertical version of that might be beneficial depending on your prevailing wind angle onto the wall.

 

It also depends on your board dimensions.

Alternatively you could go horizontal and either detail carefully to disguise future staining, or do something interesting such as scorch your planks - if you are cash poor time rich you could DIY that finish. With all wood cladding, detailing is the most important thing after choosing the appropriate version for the context.

 

I think it may be beneficial to look at 15 year old versions of your options - just see one and go and knock on the door. People will often love to talk about it and explain how they got what they wanted (or not).

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Tennentslager]

Here's a pic of board on board from my hut. You will have to counter batten to allow air movement behind the cladding.

This pic is of sarking board left untreated (can be as cheap as £6 per metre) and now two years old.

[dnoble]

Hello all

No relation, I'm afraid Ferdinand.

Thanks for the replies. By counter-battening presume you're describing putting a vertical batten beneath the horizontal as I described?

I did wonder if butting together boards which might shrink may end up looking a bit rubbish, Ian

The sarking boards look good; are they really untreated with anything, how long do you anticipate them lasting?

The house is a SIPs structure though interestingly the architect of passive house did the drawings, so he's clearly left his mark.

Dan

 

 

[IanR]

20 minutes ago, dnoble said:

 By counter-battening presume you're describing putting a vertical batten beneath the horizontal as I described?

 

Exactly. Vertical on to the structure to allow water to drain and then horizontal for fixing the vertical cladding to.

 

I assumed Ed had had a hand in it and the graphic on the elevations suggested it may have had a visible steel structure.