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Community and Q&A

Best Longevity Strategy for Rain Screen Furring

seabigoh | Posted in General Questions on

I’m installing 1″x 3″ furring strips to build a rain screen on my one-story new construction home. I’ll be putting yakisugi (aka shou sugi ban) wood siding vertically over a diagonal rain screen with Cor-a-Vent SV5 at top and bottom. All that is going on top of Zip sheathing. I’ll be needing to put up about 2,500 lineal feet of furring.  The site for the home is Puget Sound coastal and gets heavy wind and driven rain in the winter months.

My question is whether it makes sense to try to increase the lifespan of the furring strips, given the theoretical extended longevity of the yakisugi siding?

Beyond just installing plain rough sawn 1″ x 3″ furring, I could also go with treated furring lumber, or pre-paint the furring with an exterior paint, or even seal the furring strips with Zip flashing tape after installation before the siding. Or maybe something else I haven’t thought of…. 

Any thoughts on whether I should protect the furring somehow and, if so, what’s the best option?

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Replies

  1. mr_reference_Hugh | | #1

    Have you looked at non-wood materials like this Cora-vent SV5?

    https://www.cor-a-vent.com/sv5.cfm

    If you do a search, there are other non-wood products. out there. Since they are not exposed to the sun, I would imagine that they will not degrate due to uv and they are naturally going to resist rot (which impacts wood).

    https://albuildsystems.com/

    https://www.jlconline.com/products-tools/exteriors-roofing/easy-install-rainscreen-system_o

  2. Expert Member
    MALCOLM TAYLOR | | #2

    seabigo,

    Going with pt furring will definitely make it less likely to deteriorate. My own experience has been that regular lumber - protected by the cladding with good ventilation to dry - works fine in a rain-screen. But apart from cost, I don't see any downside to the further protection using pt would give you.

  3. Expert Member
    BILL WICHERS | | #3

    Note that if you decide to go with pressure treated furring, you’ll need to be sure that all of the fasteners you use to attach the furring strips to the framing and to attach the siding to the furring strips will need to be rated for use in pt lumber. If you want maximum longevity of the assembly, stainless steel fasteners are your best option here.

    I see no downside to using pt furring aside from the additional cost of the pt furring strips and associated fasteners.

    Bill

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