Vinyl Siding over T1-11 question

Hello, this is my first post in this forum.

I have a 36X40 2 story barn that is about 10 years old. I have stained the wood a couple of times as the color fades, and that labor is getting old.

I have considered verticle vinyl siding to offer wood protection and appearance. GP has a product with a .48" thickness and a premium color I like.

My first question is what sort of preparation is reccomended before siding in this situation? House wrap? something else? nothing?

The building has a concrete floor and I use it like a work shop as well as boat storage. It is not insulated now, but at least part of it will be insulated later. The studs are 2x6.

help appreciated!

 

Generally housewrap is needed under vinyl siding. Some guys think it's a mute point if there is already housewrap or felt paper under the existing siding. One good thing about putting housewrap on before you side is that you won't have to worry about the underlying siding deteriorating as long as it stays dry.

Foam (fanfold) is usually used as an underlayment when you have clapboard siding, and it's used primarily to give the installer a flatter surface to nail the siding onto. With your t1-11 siding you probably don't have any large or deep voids that would cause a problem with nailing.

So I'd say that you would probably want to apply housewrap and then you'd be ready for siding. The areas with the most leak potential are windows and doors, corner posts.

The little bit of vertical siding that I have worked with makes me a little leary of it... just because the pieces kind of have a tendency to not lay back tight to the building in the middle of each panel. (it's held by nailing fins on each side... but if you have a wide panel (like triple 4, for example) the middle will want to pucker out a little which is kind of noticable. Vertical steel is a lot nicer because its more rigid.

 

Xsleep.....thanks for your advice. the siding I looked at was a Georgia Pacific veritcle board and batten. Each piece is 7" wide, with 1.5" of that in a batten shape that looks like it would stiffen the siding a bit. The house wrap sounds like a good idea. So does steel siding but too pricey, and with t1-11 under, I dont think i need it.

thanks again!