Siding, siding and more siding

Molding and Siding Installed on first side!

Siding the window box end of the Tiny House took two days (see picture on left.)  Cute, eh? I chose 7-8" shiplap siding made of yellow pine, pattern #105. I bought enough 8' boards for both ends and 12' boards for the two long sides. Although I used an on-line calculator to covert sq ft to linear feet, I still think I'll be returning some unused boards.  

After siding the side with the box window, I learned (on YouTube) it is good idea to prime the boards BEFORE installing them! Matter of fact, mildew has already started growing on one of the boards.  Needless to say, I didn't get to prime the wall fast enough. The mildew beat me. Anyway, $500 later, I own a fantastic paint sprayer and the first five gallons of Valspar primer with mildew preventative added. I can prime 6-8 boards in about 10 minutes, front and back, with my Magnum LTS 15 paint sprayer. [and it's available for rent!]

John Marshall install furring strips

I believed that siding goes up fast; however, it is not as fast as you would think.  First, you have to install the brick or trim molding around all the windows and doors.  Then, if you are using furring strips, they have to be attached about 16" on center.  I made my furring strips from pressure-treated 2x4's cut to a 3/8" width. Dee Williams recommended furring strips to allow airflow behind the wood siding, reducing the chance of water being trapped behind the boards resulting in mildewing and ultimately rotting. I'm sure if that was necessary, but it made sense to me. In the picture (see right), notice the highest furring strips match the slope of the gable roof.

Additionally, notice I applied Grace Ice and Water Shield to the tongue side of the Tiny House instead of Tyvex (or other moisture barrier.)  In theory, if it rains while driving down the road, this side of the house is well protected from water intrusion.  Today we almost finished siding the tongue side of the Tiny House.  We quit at 5pm, having spent 9 hours! 

I feel compelled to remind TH builders the tops of the boards need to align around the entire house. I was amazed how 1/4" is noticeable at eye level when the top of boards meet at the corner. So, a couple of times, we chose to removed a couple and reinstalled them.  So, after the first wall was sided, we took a furring strip and marked the tops of the boards and transferred those mark to all corners and sides. We took line level and confirmed that if the tops of boards are put up at those marks, they indeed would be level.  Nice!

John Marshall holding up perfectly cut piece of siding

Lastly, it takes time to go around things like window, power boxes, and sheds.  John Marshall is shown in this picture holding up one piece of siding cut precisely to fit above the shed roof and below the bathroom window. When this board went up, we were very pleased. It fit like a glove.

We have two sides or four times (4x) more siding still to be installed including all sides of the dormer.  The next long day (10 hours) we finished all the siding on the building (not the dormers.)  I now need to get one more stick of gable flashing and finish building the dormer window before the siding can be finished.  LEARNING POINTS:  Remember to prime the board ends, if possible; use wood filler to fill in the nail holes and caulk to fill in the crack between the board ends that are butted up together.

I ended up returning about 225 linear feet that I didn't use.  Perhaps it was because I didn't subtract the doors and windows.  Who knows?  You may find this calculator valuable for determining your linear feet:  http://www.trestlewood.com/shiplap-siding-calculator.html . I paid about $1.10 per linear foot.