Wood species for sheeting

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Ky cowboy

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I'm in the process of buying some ground, so I started drawing up a shop I've always wanted. 40x60 with 14 eave. I'm wanting to put a black metal wainscot then rough cut lumber on up and stain it. Black metal roof and doors trimmed in black as well. I was planning on using poplar but have read several people say it doesn't do well outside. So my question is what would you use poplar or white oak. I haven't prices any yet, just trying to decide
 
Poplar does fine as long as its on the sides, where it can shed moisture ,,don't have a lot of trouble with termites with it either,, they go at oak like a Buffett..
 
Ky cowboy":2u8npxwa said:
Poplar was my first choice for price and bug resistance but some people say it doesn't stain well
the cured rough cut Does... I didn't have good luck with it as a deck flooring,even using Thompson water seal regularly..
 
Watching one of those shows where they tear down and rebuild old log homes, they pointed where one home had used both oak and poplar. The oak logs were rotted beyond salvage, the poplar were still in good shape.
 
I'm pretty sure that most of the barn siding around here is poplar and as long as it's off the ground it last a long time. My main concern is what it would look like stained, a lot of people say it blotches really bad but paints well. Really want to stay with the stain. I think it'll look better.
 
i tore down a big barn built from poplar and red oak.

i used some poplar beams on 1 hay wagon and red oak on another. the poplar beams and top boards lasted about 3 years before rotting and breaking, as well as the beams. the red oak is still going strong.

you can leave a red oak log on the ground and in 10 years you could still turn it into boards.
 
btw, your black building is going to reflect heat in the winter and bring it in in the summer..
 
I'm going to put a drop ceiling in it and insulate it. I figure on using the white roll insulation on walls and roof. Then add blown in or bat ins. On the drop ceiling. Thought black would look best, green would probably look good too.
 
Why not cedar? It's cheap and won't rot. Locust and bodock won't rot but are hard to work with. I've torn down log houses with walnut and white oak logs laying on the ground that were still solid. Red oak won't last anytime at all hardly.
Poplar is ok as far as termites go but it will rot due to moisture if not painted or stained. It has to be protected from moisture.
I've been told sassafras and bean tree (catalpa) would not rot. Built a dog house ( unpainted) of bean tree about 10 years ago and it's not shown any rot yet. Set some sassafras fence posts about 4 years ago so time will tell on those.
 
ddd75":qlpozix5 said:
i tore down a big barn built from poplar and red oak.

i used some poplar beams on 1 hay wagon and red oak on another. the poplar beams and top boards lasted about 3 years before rotting and breaking, as well as the beams. the red oak is still going strong.

you can leave a red oak log on the ground and in 10 years you could still turn it into boards.

I've not seen that here with red oak. I've seen fence boards and barn siding that were both showing deterioration in less than 10 years. Some totally rotten.
 
If a tree falls and is left a white oak will rot faster than a red, cut them into boards a white oak will last 3x as long. Asked a bunch of people why that is but can't nobody answer me as of yet. As for siding personally never been a big fan of Poplar but vertical,off the ground , and stained may be ok. Yellow pine makes some pretty good siding and can be treated if you wanted. I would think there would be some of that in KY. Whatever you choose nail it off good with some good nails or in a couple months when the sun gets hot you will have windows where you put walls. Sounds like it will be a nice barn.
 
I would think your right Kenny,it woul be a lot like cypress. Is it really pricy? I know a lot of the spruce died out in the mountains a few years ago. Don't know about the hemlock , there is not much of that around the mountains I run in.
 
I've never seen a hemlock tree around these parts either. Not doubting that's it good but I'm thinking it would cost quite a bit to get in this area. I was trying to stick with what's readily available around my area which is oak and poplar. I have a friend who runs a large saw mill and can get a little bit of a deal from him, but they saw what's around here so oak and poplar. I'd be willing to travel a little way to get something better maybe pine. I'll call around tomorrow and try and gets some prices. And whatever i put up will be stained and off the ground 3 or 4 feet
 
If you can get it i would second hemlock. It is all I use for framing and sheeting on barns. As Kenny mentioned, rot resistant and bugs won't touch it.
 

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