Shou Sugi Ban Siding going UP!

Shou Sugi Ban Pictures

I'm really happy with the way things are looking and I think you guy will be too. The siding takes a lot of prep but once you get it put up your house looks a lot more like a house and the character starts to pop. 

Here's a few tips I've found the hard way while working with my siding.

• Go through your siding and pick out the bad boards AND the good boards. In my case I have plenty of siding and so I can be picky and use only the best. Make a few stacks, best long boards, crappy boards you'll never use any of, and boards with bad spots that can be cut down and used for shorter lengths. 
• Keep your scraps organized by length, that way when you pull a measurement of 23 inches you don't have to cut a long board or go digging through your whole pile of wood, just go to the appropriate stack and find one.
• This is a time to work with a partner. Long boards are too crazy to try and get up by yourself.
• Go ahead and use some glue along your lath, never hurts to have a back up.
• I've found when staining the wood, rags work better for me than brushes....maybe a preference thing.
• Cut before you stain if you want to save on materials.
• When cutting along the gables you can pull the bottom board and base all the others on that one. Saves ten trips up the ladder.
• Install tricky pieces together sometimes works better than working yourself into a corner trying to get a tiny sliver up there.
• Enough blah blah, here are the pictures.