are you ready for this......

woo! i am absolutely thrilled to share the first photos of our barn wood siding installed!  matt and orion have been working so hard that last few days to get the siding up.

roofing paper and metal flashing at base of north house

the first step for installing the siding was to wrap the north part of the house in black felt roofing paper.  this paper acts as an additional moisture barrier between the siding and the osb sheathing of the house, but more importantly because the barn wood is imperfect the black paper will keep any small holes from being unsightly.  there is also a chance the in the future that a knot could pop out of this very old wood as it shifts and shimmies around

the guys did a wonderful job covering the house

matt and orion also added a metal drip edge along the bottom of the house which will turn a great rusty red color.  this helps to direct any water that may get behind the siding away from the foundation.  it is funny how terrified of water i have become during this process, water is your worst enemy in construction and we have done everything in our power to make sure water is contained and controlled.

putting up the felt paper

matt hard at work on the roof

when we started the process of putting on the siding we thought we would execute a reverse board and batten style siding.  however, we quickly decided that this would look too chunky and way to textural.  the wood itself is so distinctive and beautiful that we felt it best to apply the wood is a very clean lined way.  so we decided to apply the wood in a way called board to board.  each board has to be put through the table saw to make a straight edge and then is abutted together.  this creates a very tight looking siding and utilizes the most material possible.

the siding stating to go up on the south face

matt and orion have done a beautiful job of putting together the siding.  it is certainly an artform, having to match each piece with its neighboring piece.  and trying to make it look random without trying to hard that it looks like you were trying!

the boards are fit together as tightly as possible

Orion at the saw

a lot more of the siding finished

björn and i are so incredibly happy with the look of the north house and it feels even better that many people have stopped by to compliment the progress and to comment on how much they love the barn wood.