Self-building a house

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

We are in the process of building a small-scale house, tackling the entire project ourselves. We would like to hear from people who have used charred wood cladding, the shou sugi ban style. We are not sure if we should use any top coat on the installed Siberian larch. At this point, about half of the house is cladded.

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njnurse878
Original Author

7 years ago

Of course we charred the larch boards before putting them on the house; the question was: would it be better to add a layer of tung oil to the finished boards? Or that wouldn't make a difference in appearance and/or maintenance needs?

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Comments (10)

PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
7 years ago
Char the siding before you install it.
BT
7 years ago
Sometimes people char it after on purpose... and with the house, but fire marshals usually complain. :)
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dsnine
7 years ago
No, no sealer on top of it, as far as I know that can impact the performance and the char is its own seal/cure. I’m no expert though, might be good to email someone who installs sho sugi ban professionally and ask.
Sammy
7 years ago
I have no advice to offer you, only praise, for that is one good-looking home you’re building. Very cool.
njnurse878
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you!!
Seabornman
7 years ago
Love your house! I believe there should be finish on the wood. I haven't used Tung oil so can't comment about it's use. I've been using Behr transparent oil finish on my larch walls - works well and dries quickly.
just_janni
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
great house - I'd search for more info on that technique online - there does not appear to be a high degree of familiarity with that here. (save for dsnine - who's answer seems like the right one - but even s/he recommended to check with a pro!)

Would love to see more - house looks amazing.
barncatz
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Have an acquaintance who moved across country and did this on the studio they're building. FWIW, which is probably zero, they did not apply a top coat or finish material to their charred wood.

Gorgeous!

ETA DH and I finished our house ourselves after it was framed. We mostly worked on the weekends for several years. I used a product called American Clay on the walls instead of paint, and some five years after "finishing", I have started to find small areas, tucked in out of the way corners, where we changed a light fixture, meant to put trim and didn't or just forgot to finish, I guess, and have bare drywall. I'm thinking about covering them with random stick and peel wallpaper strips.

Best of luck on your project!
Eric Whetzel
6 years ago
A finish should help bind the char to the wood.

We initially used tung oil for our shou sugi ban siding, but it didn't hold up very well.

We redid it with Auson black pine tar with much better results.

The details, with plenty of photos, are available here:

https://kimchiandkraut.net/2019/09/21/installing-charred-cedar-siding/