Garage Siding Decision

After Pete and I did significant garage and barn stalking about town we decided on a look for the garage. Traditional was going to be the name of the game here for our construction. Board and Batten!

I snapped this inspiration pic while at a stop sign out in PA. For once I was decently speedy with busting out the camera and nabbing a picture in time. Paparazzi I am not.


There was almost no debating different materials for us to use for the siding. We really didn't want vinyl siding thinking that it is much better suited for a different style than we were aiming for. Overall the base price of the vinyl was better than all the options, but we knew that vinyl siding requires plywood or OSB sheathing to be put up underneath. All that wood product, even OSB is about $13 a panel around here, was not going to be budget friendly for us considering the size of our exterior walls.

We'd heard good stuff about fiber cement products and we were pretty much sold on it from the get-go of the project. Doing some more research on the fiber cement products only swayed us right on into the definite column. Fiber cement products, offer some serious protection against rot and bugs, plus has much longer longevity for wear than most anything else. Major bonus and a huge check in the YES column was that fiber cement would not require any wood product sheathing. Saves trees and us money! My fave combo right behind cheese and wine.

Also worth a mention is that I like the pro-environmental aspect for the fiber cement siding, we're always up for doing things environmentally friendly around here. In fact I'm still pushing for geo thermal, solar power or a back yard wind turbine when it comes time to look into electricity or heat/cooling systems. But that is neither here nor there right now.
While fiber cement is certainly not the end all be all green siding primo contender-it is a better earth friendly choice over most traditional home siding options and I think its always worth considering for a new build. Here is a pretty comprehensive guide to the environmental breakdown of fiber cement siding.

Ultimately we decided to not go with Hardie Board, which is the brand name of a fiber cement siding producer. Nothing personal James Hardie, it is just that CertainTeed has the same product you do but for a bit cheaper. We went with the WeatherBoards Cedar No Groove Vertical Pane option. The vertical batten boards will be put on later.