Board & Batten Siding

[John Allingham]

Board & batten siding is not popular in my area. In fact, in the five years since I started inspecting, I'm doing my first one this coming week.
My question. Are the battens supposed to be caulked along their length where they meet the boards?

[James F. McKee]

I believe it would depend on the siding John, but most b+b i see here is rough sawn cedar and is not caulked....

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by jallingham

My question. Are the battens supposed to be caulked along their length where they meet the boards?

Some do...

I didn't like the look of caulk visible not to mention the maintenance issue.

I would run my battons through the table saw on a slight angle to "cup" the back side that would mate over the board joints so they would be tight and not rock or leave cracks to speak of.

[David E. Helm]

Vertical siding in general is a bad idea. The whole point about horizontal lap siding is to shed water. The many board and batten sidings I have seen tend to let water in after 5 or 6 years; especially on the south facing walls.