Five of the last seven houses we've built used it. Not a trend. A reason.
Five of the last seven houses we've built finished with board-and-batten cladding. People ask if it's a trend. It isn't.
It's a Montana decision, made for Montana reasons.
What it actually is
Vertical 1×10 cedar or fiber-cement boards, set with a half-inch gap, covered by a 1×3 batten. The batten hides the gap, the gap lets the boards breathe, and the whole assembly handles seasonal movement better than horizontal lap siding.
Why it works here
Three things matter when you clad a house in this climate:
- Snow load on horizontal surfaces. Lap siding catches snow on every ledge. Board-and-batten doesn't have ledges.
- Movement. Cedar moves with humidity. Vertical orientation lets it move without telegraphing the joint lines through paint.
- Repair. A damaged board pulls off and replaces in twenty minutes. Lap siding repair takes a half day and a paint-match.
What it costs
About 18% more per square foot than fiber-cement lap, installed. About 8% less than full cedar shingle. We've never had a client regret it. We've had two clients regret going to fiber-cement to save the 18%.
The look
It reads farmhouse without being cosplay. The vertical lines make a house feel taller, which helps when you're working with a one-story footprint on a big lot. Paint it a quiet bone or off-white and the cedar accents do the work of breaking it up.
Painted Bone over board-and-batten with natural-oil cedar accents on the entry tower and porch — that's been our default exterior for three years. We'll change it when something works better. Hasn't yet.