Exterior Wood Siding in Direct Sunlight

last year

last modified: last year

Hello Houzz hive! We need advice!

We are building a custom home in San Francisco. We bought the house halfway through permitting and cannot change the exterior appearance of the home - we must go with the plans. The problem is that while it looks nice we're discovering it's design is less than optimal for cost and maintenance.

We have a south facing home that will get direct sunlight all day, year-round and it has wood siding. The back of the house has several doors that are exterior wood clad against more wood siding but will never get direct sunlight. So we need to figure out what wood we can use to side the house with that we can also get matching doors from one of the major retailers (marvin, milgard, pella). Obviously we want the back and front to be consistent. But we also don't want to have to give our first born child to pay for it.

We'd like to start with advice on what is the best wood to side the house with when it has direct sunlight year round. Our contractor has said we should go with something untreated and let it naturally wear so we don't have to maintain it every year. We also have redwood beams throughout the existing house that we have considered reusing for the siding but just not sure how well redwood will hold up in the direct sun.

I keep reading conflicting advice online and would love to hear from folks that actually have wood siding with direct sun exposure or builders that have used it. Pictures are a plus!

Thank you!!

Featured Answer

nester44

last year

last modified: last year

Your house will be beautiful! Lovely design. Regarding your siding question: I live about 70 miles NE of you, near Sacramento. The exterior of our house is redwood and glass. When we built the house in 1978, we had redwood plywood siding which did not hold up at all. So, in 1999, we removed that, sheathed the house with plywood for strength, and put on individual redwood boards (3/4” x 5”, T&G, blind-nailed with stainless steel nails). The most recent maintenance I did on the wood was in 2017, and at that point I devised my best procedure to maintain it. I can give you details, but it may be too long to write here, so here’s a summary. For your situation, I recommend treating the raw wood of whatever species you use with Concrobium Mold Inhibitor (available at Home Depot) and, after it dries thoroughly, then apply the finish. If you use redwood, the best product I’ve found is PPG ProLuxe SRD-RE Wood Finish, Semi-Transparent Matte, One Coat, Natural (Product # SIK250-078). The “RE” formulation designates “reduced emissions” so it is usable in California. The biggest problem I have faced, even in the hot Sacramento Valley, is surface mold that accumulates on the north side of the house. The siding has held up very well with the procedure I used back in 2017, and I am just now doing some maintenance on the north side to wash off the surface mold that has started to accumulate. So this is the first time in 5 years that I have had to do anything. I’m also lightly refreshing the finish after scrubbing off the mold in some areas. One important point to remember is to never re-apply finish without first cleaning the mold off the wood. Attached are some photos that I took yesterday. None of the areas shown has had anything done to them in 5 years. Excuse the scaffolding – we are in the middle of having the soffits and beams restained (by professionals – that’s a bit too risky for a 76-year-old woman!).

East facing, first floor

East facing, second floor

South facing, second floor

North facing

West facing

The color and condition of the wood stays very good, even on the sunny hot south and west sides.

Comments (10)

theotherjaye
last year
last modified: last year
Lovely house!

If it’s wood, you’re going to have to finish it eventually. Especially in the city. It will collect grime from the air pollution which gets into the grain of unfinished wood and can’t be gotten out without serious scrubbing, which further raises the grain, etc. Protecting a natural surface like that from UV is just a given.

We are using 1”x6” vertical clear cedar on our new build. MAybe you could do that, but horizintally. I expect we’ll have to recoat it for UV every so often, but another house in the neighborhood, built several years ago now, used it and it’s still gorgeous. Anyhow, we’re used to vanish, coming off of having and living on various boats for the past 26 years as we are!
Cora Aphra thanked theotherjaye
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Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
What do your neighbors have?
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Cora Aphra
Original Author
last year
No one else in the neighborhood has wood siding, all vinyl or stucco
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
Maybe a cement composite siding would work.
dan1888
last year
last modified: last year
"What is Shou Sugi Ban? Originating in 18th century Japan, shou sugi ban is a particularly striking method of preserving wood by charring it with fire. Traditionally, this practice is used with Japanese cedar in order to weatherproof it. The wood is burned until the surface is charred, and then coated with natural oil. More info and alternatives.

More-

I would talk to the inspectors in the building department to see how flexible their requirements are for siding. They can have suggestions too.
fissfiss
last year
The material of your siding should hopefully not matter in the permitting process? It should just be the “look”…In theory, unless a Hysterical Commission or HOA is involved, color is nobody’s business. in Maine, we have natural cedar shakes, and they weather. If we have a repair done, we just let the new shakes weather, part of the charm. We also have a mountain house in Maine with live edge siding, that has to be restained every 5-7 years.
apple_pie_order
last year
Some more info would clarify the situation.

What does your architect say?

Have you started teardown or construction?

Does your contractor have extensive local experience?

Do the contractor and architect expect you to choose redwood?
Cora Aphra
Original Author
last year
thank you this is incredibly helpful!!
strategery
last year
Yes, that wood will be a problem. Will require refinish every 2-3 yrs.

Exterior Wood Siding in Direct Sunlight

nester44

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theotherjaye

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Exterior Wood Siding in Direct Sunlight

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