Board and batten has become a signature look on Vancouver’s new laneway homes, infill projects, and modern farmhouse renovations. The strong vertical lines read as clean and contemporary or warm and traditional depending on the material and proportions, and it pairs beautifully with darker stains and crisp trim.
The catch with any vertical cladding in our climate is the rainscreen. A drained cavity is usually built with horizontal strapping, so running boards vertically means we cross-strap or use a drainage mat to keep that gap open and venting. Skip that step and the wall loses its ability to dry between storms, and that single missed detail is what eventually shows up as rot behind otherwise handsome boards.
We install board and batten in western red cedar for heritage character, engineered wood for stability and a friendlier price, or fiber cement for genuinely low maintenance. Every option gets proper back-priming or factory finishing, careful flashing at horizontal joints, and battens fastened to shed water rather than trap it.