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Ditchmonkey
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# Posted: 5 May 2016 15:52
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Has anyone used cedar fence boards as exterior siding? Seems like a reasonably good product at a low price.
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 5 May 2016 20:04 - Edited by: Littlecooner
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Nope, but working on my black locust boards for exterior siding and total love the product. It was not any more expensive to purchase at the local saw mill than any other hardwood and will last 200+ years before it rots. Those cedar fence boards would work, but they are very thin and western red cedar has a tendency to split so I would pre drill all the holes where I would attach the boards to prevent splitting these thin boards. I have been pre drilling all the holes in the black locust and do not consider it a huge time consuming task. Also lines up all the connections so the screw holes all look great when the wall is up and not just random placement. I think you would have to use screws for attachment as one easy blow with a hammer driving a nail will splinter the board. Almost have the outside of my cabin dried in, with about half the siding up and there are very, very few nails in the structure. I decided to use screws from the beginning and have spend a few extra dollars in attachment but no busted boards and using an impact drive with screws is easy. A few times, I have wanted to detach the last board, etc and it is simple to take out the screws and re position or replace the last board, etc.
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 09:23 - Edited by: Littlecooner
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If you do decide to use the WRC planks, purchase the tapered drill bit with the counter sink, which is made to drill screw holes for attaching two boards together. i can not believe how easy it is to drill a hole in wood with these bits over the conventional round bit. Yesterday I drilled about 200 holes in a set of siding that is being prepped for the next installation. Your hands and back will be glad you purchased and used the tapered bit at the end of the day.
photo of bits
http://www.amazon.com/Hickory-Woodworking-Woodworkers-Tapered-Drill/dp/B003DV33JS
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creeky
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 10:29
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littlecooner. do you have a build thread? that black locust sounds really cool.
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Ditchmonkey
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 12:21
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Thanks for the info. I wish black locust was available around here.
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Littlecooner
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 16:33
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Quoting: creeky littlecooner. do you have a build thread? that black locust sounds really cool.
One Redneck Appalachian Mountain Side Cabin
And I need to catch it up to show the siding I am working on.
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Julie2Oregon
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 18:41
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There's a lot of inexpensive cedar and Douglas Fir fence boards for sale on Craig's list where I'll be moving. It's sold in bulk ($50 minimum purchase) so I think that helps the price.
I'm looking for fireproof siding so I won't do it. Even buying an existing cabin, I'd be changing out the siding to cement board. I WISH I could have natural board but with wildfires, I think it's just too risky. 
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Don_P
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 21:28
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I dipped/ soaked some black locust barn timbers a few months ago, hmm at high enough concentration borate treated wood can resist fire, anyway, it made what looked like it could be an interesting yellow dye or stain. We used the tapered bits in furniture plants, they do pay their way.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 6 May 2016 23:10
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Ditch monkey- how long are the fence boards? Most are from 4 to 6 feet. So for siding, you need to join them in the middle of the wall. Not sure how that's going to work. You could use Z bar at the joint.
My thought on siding is that all it does functionally is protect the waterproofing layer underneath, so anything will work. But you want something rot resistant and easy to instal.
If you had to cut off a lot of fence boards to get the lengths you need for your siding, you might end up making a lot of kindling and that might make it a bit more expensive than you thought.
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