Panelling

It took me a few evenings to install the shiplap pine boards that will be the show face on the inside of my house. Before the pine I stapled a 6-mil polyethylene vapor barrier over the framing. Installing the paneling was another simple process of cutting boards to length and nailing them down like the skip-sheathing. I used a little copper shim to keep a slight gap between the boards as I nailed them down. It is important to leave some room for the boards to expand and contract with the changing seasons to avoid buckling. I hope I left enough space. It has been incredibly humid so hopefully the boards are as wide as they will get. A long pipe clamp helped persuade crooked boards into place or square up crooked panels.

One thing that I learned is that one should always paint both sides of a board at the same time to avoid movement. I back primed all of the boards weeks ago but left the front bare until they were installed on the panels. It is not a big deal, but some of the boards cupped because moisture could permeate the surface unevenly. Once again I lucked out with waste. I ordered 20% more lumber than I should have needed to allow for bad boards and cutoffs. Somehow, I had almost no waste. The cuts for the full length boards left a piece slightly longer than the space on the edge of the window RO. I barely had a scrap longer than two inches by the time I was finished. Now I have a bunch of extra paneling to use elsewhere.