Tag Archives: t1-11

Post Frame Building Wainscot

Whether your post frame building will be a garage, shop, commercial building or barndominium wainscot an extremely popular option is wainscot.

Roughly 25 years ago I had an 80’ x 150’ x 20’ post frame building erected for my prefabricated wood truss manufacturing business. Whilst a great deal of thought went into this building’s design, there is one crucial element I missed.

Down each long side of our building we placed bollards (read more at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/07/a-real-life-case-for-pole-barn-bollards/ and https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/05/lifesaving-bollard/) to protect steel siding from units of lumber and forklifts.  As there was no storage across our front wall, we did not place bollards there. A week before we moved in, someone backed a truck into a steel panel directly adjacent to our main entrance door. Of course this steel panel was nearly 30 feet tall, so to replace it would be no small undertaking. Instead of fixing it, I walked in and out of this door and fumed because of this dent! Had I planned appropriately and used wainscot panels, this dented panel could have been replaced in a matter of minutes, saving me untold hours of grief and aggravation!

By common definition, wainscot is an interior wall lower portion whose surface differs from upper wall. Wainscot was borrowed from Middle Low German wagenschot. It is not altogether clear what these origins were, but a generally accepted theory is it is a compound of wagen ‘waggon’ and schot ‘planks, boards’, and it therefore originally meant ‘planks used for making waggons’. Originally it was applied in English to ‘high-grade oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland’. This wood was used mainly for paneling rooms, and by 16th century wainscot had come to signify ‘wood paneling’.

Homeowners used to apply wainscoting, especially in dining rooms, to protect walls from damage from chairs and tables. A chair rail atop wainscoting serves as a “bumper,” protecting wall from dings and chips created when a chair or table gets a little too chummy. This wall decoration was often also used to add interest and texture to stairways, while protecting them, too. In fact, it first grew in popularity during Elizabethan times, and it’s quite common in historic English and American Colonial homes.

For post frame (or pole) buildings, wainscot has moved to building exteriors. In simple terms, it utilizes an alternate siding panel to cover approximately three feet of exterior wall lower portions. A most common application, with steel sided buildings, is to use a different color steel panel on the lower wall than the upper. Most often steel wainscot panels are the same color as roofing, however this is certainly not mandatory. This allows for an aesthetic look many find pleasing, while affording an ability to quickly and easily change out a short steel panel, if it would become damaged. This would prove to be a most cost affordable solution and is easier than changing out a full length wall panel.

Alternatively, other materials may be utilized, such as T1-11, cement based sidings, vinyl siding or even stone or brick. Mortarless masonry is a popular wainscot (for extended reading: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/10/mortarless-masonry-exterior/).  Pretty much any siding applicable to any other building exterior, can be incorporated as post frame building wainscot. It not only serves a useful purpose, it just plain looks good too.

Building Houses, Siding Options, & Construction

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Do you build houses from the ground up? ERIC

Hansen Pole Buildings GuesthouseDEAR ERIC: We are not contractors, so we do not build anything for anyone anywhere. Our post frame building homes are designed for the average person who can and will read instructions to successfully construct their own home – even without the help of a contractor! We will design specifically to meet with the requirements of your site and your needs and budget in mind. Our system provides the structure – what holds your house up, allowing you to place interior non-load bearing walls anywhere your heart fancies. We can design for full or partial basements, concrete slab on grade or crawlspace applications. Homes may be on a single level, or multiple levels up to and including three stories above grade.

Basically – if you can dream it, we can design and provide it.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I need to know what type of wood the board and batton siding is.  Cedar?  What kind of cedar?  I can’t find specifics on the materials list or my project site.  Thanks. TRISHA in MEAD

Hansen Buildings TaglineDEAR TRISHA: The rough sawn T1-11 panels are typically either a Southern Yellow Pine or Douglas Fir facing. The 1x for battons and corners is most usually Western Red Cedar.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am buying a timber frame barn kit. Can you erect this building and contract the construction? STEPHEN in MIDDLETOWN

DEAR STEPHEN: We provide post frame (pole building) custom designed kit packages. We are not contractors in any state, so no – we cannot erect your building or contract the construction.