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Battens for board & batten siding?

3392 Views 14 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Junestan
I have a 50 yr old house w/board & batten siding. It has a substantial carport w/the same siding. I want to put up a 3rd wall on the carport and roughly match the siding. The original battens are 5/8" thick and 2 3/4" wide. The only lumber I can find that thickness are short specialty boards for small projects - they are very expenive. Any idea where I could find equivalent battens or just 1/2" thick lumber that I could rip to width? The big box stores are no help.
Thanks!​
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1x6 and a table saw, make your own.
If you need a lot--a surface planer might be worth the purchase---otherwise,Kwickfishron has the cheapest suggestion-- be careful and rip wider boards to width--then rip again to get the thickness.
I know I can rip the 6" wide down to 3" but will I be able to cut the thickness in half too? I have a more experienced person helping - maybe w/a better quality table saw we could do this?
Thanks!
I only need about 26. Will give the ripping a try. Thanks much!
Just rip a 1x6 (¾” thick) in half and be done with it. You will never know that on the wall around the corner the battens are 1/8” thicker.
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If it rains where you live---I suggest cedar----the doug fir will work if you prime and paint the back side before installing.
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Yes DF is stainable. What’s the species of the original battens? I’d be trying to match that first. As Mike said I'd use cedar over DF.
I don't know what the original battens are. The area that's not stained is reddish brown - cedar? Since it's only the garage I'm not being too picky, just want it to match the basic look of the house.
It was probably "green" rough cut cedar, hence 2-3/4" wide dried down from wet, not surfaced at the mill for standard size, 2-1/2". Do you live near any cedar farms or mills?

Gary
I think it's probably redwood - I'm in No CA and there's plenty of it here. I can see that I need to do more homework since if I don't get the right wood/stain combo it's going to look crummy. I was going to get my stuff at a big box store next time I was in the "big city" but now I think I'll stick to our little local lumber yard and pick their brains, try some stains on different stuff, and see what works.
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I think it's probably redwood - I'm in No CA and there's plenty of it here. I can see that I need to do more homework since if I don't get the right wood/stain combo it's going to look crummy. I was going to get my stuff at a big box store next time I was in the "big city" but now I think I'll stick to our little local lumber yard and pick their brains, try some stains on different stuff, and see what works.
Post a picture of what you’re trying to match. :thumbsup:

http://www.diychatroom.com/f19/how-attach-photo-post-12559/
Thanks!!

Thanks everyone for your great help. Sorry for the late reply - I had to deal w/a family emergency for several days. Everything OK now. I got some sample rough-cut plywood siding and a 1x3 board. Spent a lot of time trying and comparing stains (oh that poor young man at Ace!) and I think I've finally got what will work. I think this will be a pretty close match to the existing siding and fits my meager budget.

I've never gotten so much good advice so fast on a forum. Thanks again!
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