Hannah’s uncle Andy came to help on July 20th, which was perfect timing because we needed another pair of hands to began the siding process. A big thank you to Andy for helping! The first order of business was to retrieve the siding from the barn that we had it stored in since last summer (link to post about retrieving the siding). We rented our neighbor’s 21′ trailer for the task (thank you Greg).
Siding arrives at the jobsite.
Andy unloading siding.
Our first task was to stain the siding with Penofin (a clear stain). Instead of the time-consuming process of brushing on the stain we built a trough to dip the boards in.
Andy dipping siding in trough of Penofin stain.
Wiping off extra stain from the dipped siding with a squee-jee
Andy putting freshly stained siding on drying rack
Freshly stained red cedar siding on our drying rack
July 21st
First course of siding goes on!
Adam installing siding
The one weakness in the tongue and groove siding is water infiltration at the butt joint of two boards. With clapboards best practice calls for a scrap piece of tar paper or house wrap* to be installed behind the butt joint. Water that finds its way through the joint encounters a water proof surface that drains it down and out. To solve this issue Adam devised the jig pictured above whereby we would use a router to put a groove on the edge of each board that forms the butt joint. After the two boards are installed we would push in a spline. This sounds time consuming, but the jig made it a snap. *Don’t use house wrap in conjunction with cedar, the tannins in cedar ruin the house wrap.
Spartan inserting a spline in the butt joint of the siding
Spline inserted at the butt joint of two siding boards
First window trim installed. We are using stainless steel finish head screws for the task.
July 22nd
Veronica returns to help with siding.
The siding is stunning, especially when the sunset hits it. We have been getting compliments from everyone who walks. There are also a lot of cars that drive by very slowly with passengers craning their necks.
Design & Construction of Spartan & Hannah's Home 
Oh my goodness! It’s breathtaking! What a treasure it is and will be!
m
Hi Spartan,
Would it be okay with you if Nancy and I stopped by for a look sometime Tuesday later morning?
Hi sparten,
Do you remember the type of penofin you used and was color added? How durable has it been? We would like to match the look.
Thanks
Hi Bobby,
Here is a link to the one that I used: http://www.penofin.com/products_bl.shtml
I did not add any color to it–just clear.
Wondering what size the splines are ( looks about 1/2″x1/4″)? Were they ripped from a piece of siding?
Hi Chris, Correct, 1/2″ by 1/4″. Had some extra kicking around and just checked. We used scrap trim, which, in our case, was cypress. Any rot resistant wood will do.
Really enjoyed following your build — it was an early inspiration for our own house. We stole your “uncle-in-law’s” idea for the dipping trough — very helpful! You can read about it here if you’re interested: https://kimchiandkraut.net/2016/12/05/oiling-charred-cedar-siding Thank you for sharing so much information about your build — it’s been invaluable!