5 Tips & Tricks: Installing Board & Batten Siding!

Don't side like a hack! Here are 5 BASIC tips for installing Board and Batten siding on a home. Whether you're a master carpenter, or a DIY'er, I hope you enjoy this video! You may know all of them, you might have just learned 5 new things about installing siding.

[nicholassinclair]

Elaborating and showing how to do these steps would make this video great. How do we calculate our rise and run numbers? What’s your nailing pattern? What kind of nails and length? What tricks do you use to prefab your corner boards where they are hitting any number of different shapes in a roof? Thanks for your content. Keep making these videos.

[Jestunes]

I worked with many crews in the past 50 years and one trick I found useful to make sure all the measurements are the same is to start off with a 4 or 8 foot measurement and have everyone fix their tape measure to that initial measurement. A hammer works good to fix the tape measure start clip used lightly. It works wonders on a big project. You'll know when you reach 20 feet that it will be the same 20 feet on the opposite side of your project. Good video. Thanks for sharing...

[dmitribobko]

Hey. Just wanted to tell you that your video has helped me make good progress on my own house as owner/builder. The best tip here for me, aside from making sure that everything lines up (which was never a question for me an my ocd..)...was how to calculate the batten lengths. I think in my hurry to get things done, I didn't even entertain the idea of doing the calculations, until I clued in that I got a 45% pitch...and rise and run are identical. I did my entire roof 12 OC and each batten was just 12 inches shorter or longer depending on the direction I was going, and that was a massive time saver. The worst part is doing the first one, but once you got the right calculation, using math is almost a must if you want to move at any rate. I was working by myself and was banging my head against the wall until I came here and re-watched this video. I did watch it some time ago in general preparation for the build, but forgot about that very important tip. Thank you so much. All my board and batten on the roof sections is now done, the rest is all easy straight cuts on the bottom :D

[passthephil]

Great Tips! Can you specify what material you use for the board and batten? and the size of the battens? Thanks

[candbprescott]

What material do you use? Cement hardy board, plywood?? The same for the batten?

[davidhunter]

Gotta love a good cut man that can keep ahead of the rest of the crew!

[kevinsloan]

Matt thanks for the 5 tips & tricks. I see that you have installed the panels ahead of installing the corners and window trim. You show flashing the top of the window. with the panels in place. What or how do you now flash the top horizontal window trim? Thank you.

[justinwilliams]

Awesome video kinda new to the industry but just got my independent contractors license 😊

[shawnywhatitis]

Man that looks great, Thanks for the tips, I'd love to know what the sizes of materials were, corners etc, and what about a video where you install the board ? before the trim and battens ?

[paulstewart]

Here is a handy trick for you. Make sure your first batten is dead plumb absolutely straight from top to bottom (very critical). Accurately cut a couple of pieces of batten to reflect your “fixed” desired spacing which will reduce if not eliminate tape measure errors. Attach a cabinet handle or wood block and one will be used for the up top guy and the other jig for the bottom guy. Keep the edges dust/debris free before using and quality check every couple of rows. Many ways to skin the cat.

[AshleyClary]

Thanks for this!! Can you cover the trim also? Do I flush the panels to the windows and then run the trim 4/4 on top OR do I use 5/4 around windows and try to get the siding to line up perfect to that? The reason for the latter is if we ever replace a window, we would only need to remove the trim .... ??

[kevinmilligan]

Can you make a video for how you find out what angles to make your cuts at? Trim at the roof, mitre on the cap at the stairs, etc?

[robhoffman]

Guys? Plus it's not a home! It's a house, dwelling, tepee. wickiup, mud hut. Very informative video. Keep up the good work.

[JackofAllMasterofNone]

I love good professional contractors. Nice video.

[stevenhatfield]

Good ideas. But have no idea what you ment about the 23 inch red line on level and how to use that to line up. Wish you'd show or explain better.

[gustavvanniekerk]

When it comes to painting, what is considered industry standard quality? Should I caulk the gap between the board and batt for the whole house? Also, what about the rough cut edges on the batts? Should I caulk that so it is smooth to avoid water coming in and ruining the batt over time? Great video thanks!

[dannyorsello]

Very smart and accurate thank you. But, I've never worked with James hardee cement board. I was looking for tips on cutting and fastening the cement board.

[ppomm]

Matt the big question (to me at least) is how you trim window and doors when using hardie sheet goods versus clapboard style. Do you install the 1x4 (or 5/4) before the panel, or after /on top of the panel? Seems based on comments here that there's some disagreement as to what's recommended or code required. Informative video.

[Ninjump]

The control line trick is really good! Any tips on how to template this larger paneled stuff quickly? Doors are easy, but around stairs are a bit harder especially when laying it horizontally. May the tilesetters can weigh in here?

[IIIBETEPIII]

Oh yeaaaah, a lot coming in 2019, we even didnt expect 😆