To install a good-looking board and batten trim, divide the wall space available by the intended spacing, rather than the batten spacing by the wall. Make sense?
At the ProTradeCraft demo stage, we installed some MiraTEC board and batten trim and wrapped a 4x4 post with off-the-shelf MiraTEC trim stock.
Before we got rolling, Tim Thornton gave some background on MiraTEC trim…
"These particular battens that we're going to be putting up today are all MiraTEC battens, the reversible batten strip. Two-inches wide, the battens are warranted for fifty years against rot, splitting, checking, termite damage—basically, anything that's a breakdown of the board, its warranted against.
There's a lot of skepticism when it comes tom composites like this. First, this is a product that's been around for twenty years. The product has four major components:
- Hardwood fiber
- Phenolic resins
- Waxes
- Zinc Borate
Essentially, we combine those components, we compress them and steam them at the same time, out comes a panel, which we then cut down and trim to whatever size we need, panel, trim, or batten.
The trick to a board and batten siding is getting spacing right. Simple trim details, like siding, should not catch the eye. Because if you notice something, it is probably a mistake or an anomaly."
For this reason, it’s better to divide the spacing according to the wall instead of dividing the wall according to the spacing.
An even spacing pattern for a 42-inch wall won’t work for a 70-in. wall section.
Begin by dividing the space by the intended spacing between battens. We were aiming for an eight-inch spacing. 42 divided by eight is a little more than five, meaning there will be sections that are five sections that are roughly eight inches wide.
42-inches divided by those 5 spaces = 8.4-inch spacing, or about 8 ⅜ inches.
The seventy-inch wall has more civilized math because the 70-inch wall section divided by 8 inches equals 8 and three-quarters sections.
We can either divide this wall into eight sections or nine. Nine sections would yield spacing of 7 and three quarters, eight sections yields eight and three-quarters spacing.
One option gives a difference of about a quarter-inch between the two walls, and the other yields a difference of about three-quarters of an inch. We’ll pick the 8 ¾-inch spacing.
Next, we wrapped a 4x4 post on our deck with standard MiraTEC trim.
They began by making a three-sided box, roughly a quarter-inch larger than the post.
Spacing the trim off of the deck about a half-inch allows space for air to circulate, and can be covered with a simple base molding.
The final piece of Miratec trim is face-screwed with exterior trim screws and then patched, primed, and painted.
— More videos of the construction demo zone coming!
