Pole Barn Garage - Siding Options

[Dallas Mariner]

Hey Everyone,

A couple of years ago I moved into a home just north of Boston, MA. The property has a 3-car detached garage that was built using pole barn construction. The garage is currently sided with a 3/4" vertical shiplap attached directly to the horizontal girts. I'd like to work to get the garage space more weather tight and aesthetically pleasing and am looking for some help with this.

My house is sided in solid stained, cedar clapboards with a 4" exposure to the weather. I'd ideally like to match this same siding on my garage but the lack of wall studs to nail to has me scratching my head. Would I be okay to nail the cedar clapboards directly to the shiplap or am I asking for trouble here?

Another lesser alternative is to use vinyl siding. I'm not in love with the idea of mixing materials on two buildings that are adjacent to each other. I'll also have the same issue of not having studs to nail to.

Any guidance or ideas would be appreciated.

 

[tcianci]

If it were my place, I would have no issue nailing the claps to the 3/4 material. I have been remodeling for many years and older houses with 1x sheathing don't always have the siding nailed through to the studs although older 1x material was a little closer to 1" thick. Modern 1/2 inch plywood and OSB sheathings don't have the nail holding ability that 1x sheathing has. Do yourself a favor and spend the money on clear vertical grain cedar clapboards. They are the top of the line clapboard material and will lie the flattest. It's the gnarly grain of aye and better claps that causes them to curl and pull out of the wood. Use stainless steel ring shank siding nails and install the siding over felt paper, not Tyvek. Google Tyvek and cedar bleeding.

 

[astroracer]

Most siding jobs are nailed into the "SHEATHING". No studs required. The shiplap will serve the purpose just fine. Just remember to take down all of the stuff on your shelfs as it WILL end up on the floor.
I would recommend wrapping the entire structure with house-wrap, Tyvek or it's equivalent, and then put on a layer of 1 or 2" foam board for a bit of insulation, both weather and noise related. Strap that vertically with 1 x 3's on 16" centers to attach your new siding.
Mark

 

[Rookie2]

look up vertical siding !

 

[Whirnot]

Or if you are concerned, screw it on.

 

[66coronet500]

These guys could make some recommendations.
http://circleb.com/garages-storage/
My garage built by them is not cedar but it is the 3/4" vert. I have 2 layers separated by tyvek.

 

[Dallas Mariner]

Thanks for the tips guys. I don't doubt that the horizontal clapboard siding would hold up by just nailing to the sheathing. Is there anyone that is familiar with the building code regarding this? Here in Massachusetts I will need to pull a permit to do this work, so I'd rather the inspector not tell me that its all wrong after the job is completed.

I'll have to call the town to see if I can talk to the inspector about this.