Siding Story
At our DER project in Westhampton we have chosen to install all Boral TruExterior trim and siding. It is competitive in price, contains 70 percent recycled material, and has excellent moisture and rot resistance characteristics, leading to reduced maintenance costs and hassle down the road. It also looks great, with a very crisp and classical looking clapboard profile.
The material does, however, present challenges. Our super-insulated wall assembly requires a ventilated rain screen so we cannot nail directly to sheathing. We experimented with a non-woven rain screen product, but found the siding to be too flexible and the rain screen too compressible for our 24″ on center framing. We also tested several combinations of solid strapping and rain screen fabric, each with their particular downsides. The assembly that is working best for us is 12″ on center corrugated polyethylene strapping with horizontal channels, with alternating blind- and face- nailing pattern. This provides maximal vertical and horizontal airflow, tons of support for the siding, while minimizing penetrations of our sheathing with fasteners.