Using T-111 as siding question

[xbanone]

Hello all,

I am having a 24x36x10 wood post frame building built soon. I have elected to use T111 as the sides. eventually I would like to install vinyl siding to match my house. my question is, in the back corner of the building we had to dig down about 24" to get a level surface, when i back fill the siding will be under ground about 2 feet, how will the t111 hold up to the moisture and dirt? should i use a barrier if so what material? plastic? rubber? or a combination of the two? what do you all think of T-111 siding for durability?

 

[Torque1st]

Very bad idea! You will need to use concrete, either formed or a block wall for the back corner. If you have building codes they will not allow direct contact of the siding to earth.

BTW, -it is ideas like this that make building codes necessary.

 

[Steve in Mi]

Torque1st has it correct. I have T-111 Fir siding on my shop and I can tell you that without constant upkeep even above grade it is a fight against the elements. Below grade I doubt it would last a year here in Michigan.

 

[Kevin54]

Hello all,

I am having a 24x36x10 wood post frame building built soon. I have elected to use T111 as the sides. eventually I would like to install vinyl siding to match my house. my question is, in the back corner of the building we had to dig down about 24" to get a level surface, when i back fill the siding will be under ground about 2 feet, how will the t111 hold up to the moisture and dirt? should i use a barrier if so what material? plastic? rubber? or a combination of the two? what do you all think of T-111 siding for durability?

You do NOT want T111 in any contact with dirt. Can you post up a pic of what you are dealing with and many suggestions will flow. First thing comes to mind is that you will have to dig out some more and put in a stacked stone retaining wall or something of that sort. Something far enough away that allows you to walk around that area but be aesthetically pleasing to look at. Most places have the stacked blocks going on sale to get rid of them for the winter season and now would be the time to bite the bullet and pick up a few. What you don't want to do is have any wood in contact with soil nor do you want to "pitch" any soil towards the building where water runoff will start to hit it.

 

[Sundowner]

I ran into the same problem with my garage build. like you, my first floor height was 10'. What I ended up doing was the first 2 feet of the wall were sheathed with 5/8" concrete tile backer board, and the top 8 feet were T-111. This coming spring I wll be covering the backerboard with cultured stone. The nice apart about this set-up is that there's no ugly horizontal seam in the siding.

 

[Palmetto]

Down here in TX, it does not take T-111 long to rot. I hate the stuff. It's brick, or Hardie siding for me!

 

[FunfDreisig]

The two best solutions have already been described...

A formed concrete or concrete block "stem wall" as part of the structure.
or
A retaining wall set back away form the structure.

In both cases you should consider installing a french drain to make sure any runoff is diverted away from the structure.

FWIW I chose to install a 4' high concrete block stem wall and a french drain on on the back wall of my new garage since the grade level will be a little over 2' above the slab. I'll be back laying block this AM

Funf Dreisig

 

[Charles (in GA)]

You do not back fill dirt against the siding/walls of a frame building. As already noted, you either construct a retaining wall set back from the building (with drainage to carry water away) or pour a stem wall, or build a concrete block stem wall at worst.

Charles

 

[Junkman]

The savings of using T-111 for a siding is rapidly lost when you consider the time and labor to keep it properly maintained by either painting or staining. It doesn't hold up well to the elements, and it does rot easily. If it is subject to water splash at the bottom, it will look terrible in just a few years. I see it as a cheap siding solution if you are planning on selling and moving on in a year or two. I would never consider it for a long term building that I am going to own for years to come. I know, because I used it on my home, and after multiple times of staining it to try to keep it looking good, I finally bit the bullet and put vinyl siding over it. What I spent in stain and labor over the 10 years would have more than paid for a better siding originally.

 

[wrigh003]

You do not back fill dirt against the siding/walls of a frame building. As already noted, you either construct a retaining wall set back from the building (with drainage to carry water away) or pour a stem wall, or build a concrete block stem wall at worst.

Charles

T111 is a good siding for a little shed, little being the operative word- that way when you go to paint/stain it it doesn't take 500 gallons of paint to get it done.

Nobody's mentioned yet that if you put wood siding in contact with the ground, you'll have termites in your barn's siding/ posts in short order. Dirt+wood=termites.

Build a stem wall or a retaining wall.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Nobody's mentioned yet that if you put wood siding in contact with the ground, you'll have termites in your barn's siding/ posts in short order. Dirt+wood=termites.

I have enough trouble with termites when the wood is not in contact with the dirt, they build tunnels up a block wall to get to the wood. Dirt and wood just don't mix.

Charles

 

[Steve in Mi]

The savings of using T-111 for a siding is rapidly lost when you consider the time and labor to keep it properly maintained by either painting or staining. It doesn't hold up well to the elements, and it does rot easily. If it is subject to water splash at the bottom, it will look terrible in just a few years. I see it as a cheap siding solution if you are planning on selling and moving on in a year or two. I would never consider it for a long term building that I am going to own for years to come. I know, because I used it on my home, and after multiple times of staining it to try to keep it looking good, I finally bit the bullet and put vinyl siding over it. What I spent in stain and labor over the 10 years would have more than paid for a better siding originally.

You are soooo right. That's why I don't show pictures of my 26 year old 5/8" T-111 Fir shop exterior. Water splash looks just awful and I finally gave up trying to keep up with it (transparent stain). A garden sprayer, 12 gallons of woodlife and 4 hours when I first started recoating. I thought if I sprayed every second or third year that would be enough - I was wrong. Maybe every year would be okay, I don't know. Later I added some transmission oil to the stain trying to return it to the original orange tent the wood had. But once the EPA banned the bug killer in woodlife the woodpeckers moved in and have had their way pecking out whole lines of siding to get at the bugs in the voids in a sub layer. I will probably go the vinyl route too - I'm trying to milk it for all I can before spending the bucks.

I enclosed my breezeway 15 years ago with a T-111 sheet product that is quite heavy and seems full of resin. It comes pre-primmed and reqires painting. I don't recall the name of it but it has held up real well. My brick ranch house and garage has 3' overhang so this sheeting doesn't see any splash and only occasionally do we get strong enough wind and rain to wet it.

 

[FunfDreisig]

T-111 does not have to be a bear to maintain if the structure is designed to minimize splash etc. OTOH T-111 in close proximity to the ground is subject to splash, water staining and rot.

FWIW I lived in a wood frame home that was clad in T-111 for over 22 yrs and NEVER re-stained the siding. The trick was that the original stain was oil based and a dark grey. Over time the dark gray grew lighter but it always protected to wood. No it didn't look "new" but it did look pretty nice with zero maintenance. The house was on pier and beam (2-3 ft high) with large overhanging eves. The T-111 was "trimmed" with contrasting dark brown cedar top and bottom. So rain almost never touched the T-111. BTW My barn was constructed similarly although not quite so high off the ground (more like 1 ft) and I never had any trouble with the T-111 on it either.

Funf Dreisig