What type/s of wood is used for wide planked barn siding?

Question

And where can I find such cuts and types? Not a home inprovement store.

Answer 1

Nope, you can't...your old fashioned neighborhood hardware or lumber yard should carry this for you.

Barns in our rural areas are usually planked with either 1 x 8 or 1 x 10 pine. The joints are then covered with a 1 x 1 piece of pine. This style of siding is called "board and batten" ...a lumber yard will know exactly what you are after if you ask for it by this name :)

Answer 2

With all due respect, and being as ancient as I am...:) You probably should assume the wood was/is local, depending on the age of any barn, and access to lumber available.

You can also believe that "Barn Wood" is a niche market in the lumber/restoration industry, and many companies specialize in tear down/remediation/re-milling/ and selling what is hyped as OLD original barnwood. Most often sold at a premium price.

I was born and raised on a farm, in upstate NY, and most of the lumber in our barns came from "Conifers"; That being some of the most common, accessible material for any construction. Certainly a lumber yard, or even a big box HD/Lowes might offer similar, even "Faux"

You don't state a purpose or intent, but any truly weathered barnwood might be cracked/crazed/cupped/warped, and when remediated might lessen the ambience of the wood itself.

Beyond that, and depending on the age of any authentic OLD barnwood you'd likely find that a piece of lumber designated as a 2x4 would be just that.

I suspect by using the WWW,,, since you obviously have access; you might try a browser search using Keywords.

Steven Wolf

Answer 3

Unless you plan on painting the siding as a religious upkeep, look into woods that weather well. The only 3 that come to mind are cypress, cedar, and redwood (excluding exotic woods). Cedar is abundant where I live and weathers beautifully. The old barns are continually being reclaimed for the lumber. Pine is cheaper but will require a lot of maintenance.

Answer 4

Depending on your location, most of the wide planks are probably, pine. Sometimes the local wood is used, cypress, redwood,pine or maple, it just depend on the abundance in your area. Locate a sawmill in your area, they should be able to cut any width and Length you need. If a local sawmill is not available, contact your closest forest service, they might be able to send you in the right direction. Good Luck!