Board and Batten Spaciing

[RichD]

Was there ever a standard for Board and Batten spacing?   Or was it just whatever the widths of boards used determined the spacing of the battens?

And in those OLD days.. were the vertical boards commonly 8", 10" 12" etc?  or were they ever greater than 12".

Mostly curious..

RichD

[mabloodhound]

Your second guess is usually correct, whatever width the board was is what determined the batten location.   However, there is always exceptions and if the builder or owner wanted a more fancy or presentable building they might choose to have all equal board spacing.   This required and extra step of sawing all the boards to the same width.   So if it were a back woods buildings, than varied spacing and a front yard build would be more standard.

"Old Days" boards could be even 16, 18 and some 24 inches wide; but 12-14 would be about average.   My home, built in 1720 has some 24" wide sheathing under the shingle siding.

[Frederic Testard]

Thanks for the info about the boards width, Dave. I hesitated to mix really large boards to the usual 10" or 12" but I will be more confident now.