Board & Batten Siding in Kendall, Lynden WA

Board & Batten in Kendall: A Style That Has to Earn Its Keep

Board and batten has been a Pacific Northwest farmhouse staple for generations, and it's easy to see why it keeps showing up on homes around Kendall and the rest of rural Whatcom County. The vertical lines suit barns, shops, and homes with a rustic or modern-farmhouse look, and the deep shadow lines the battens create give a house real texture instead of a flat wall of siding. But board and batten is also a style that punishes shortcuts. Every vertical seam and every batten strip is a place water can find its way behind the cladding if the assembly underneath isn't built correctly. On a home in Kendall, where rain sits on siding for long stretches and moss finds every shaded, damp surface, that margin for error matters more than it would in a drier climate.

This page is about doing board and batten right for this specific area — not board and batten in general, and not James Hardie siding in general, but the combination of the two applied to the conditions Kendall homes actually face.

What Whatcom County's Climate Does to Vertical Siding

Kendall sits inland from Bellingham Bay, but it's still squarely inside Whatcom County's marine-influenced weather pattern: long stretches of driving rain, salt-tinged air that moves through the county off the Sound, heavy tree cover in a lot of surrounding properties, and short, low-angle winter sun that leaves north- and west-facing walls damp for days at a time. That combination is exactly what grows moss, and moss doesn't just look bad — it holds moisture directly against the siding surface, which is the last thing you want behind a vertical batten strip.

Board and batten is more vulnerable to this than horizontal lap siding for a simple reason: water runs down a wall vertically, and battens create a straight channel for it to travel and pool at horizontal breaks, window heads, and the bottom of the wall. If the panel behind the batten isn't properly primed and sealed, or if the batten itself isn't fastened and flashed correctly, that channel becomes a path for moisture intrusion instead of a design feature. We see the results on older wood and engineered-wood board and batten jobs around the county: swelling at the base of battens, soft spots at butt joints, and moss establishing itself in the shadow line where the wall never fully dries.

How We Build Board & Batten With James Hardie

We install James Hardie exclusively, and for board and batten that means HardiePanel vertical siding as the field material, with HardieTrim boards installed as the battens over the panel seams. Both are fiber cement — not wood, not an engineered wood product, not vinyl — so the assembly doesn't rely on the batten or the panel resisting rot the way a wood-based system does.

The parts that actually determine whether it holds up

• Rain-screen gap: We furr the panel out from the wall sheathing so water that does get behind the cladding has somewhere to drain and air can move to dry the wall assembly, rather than trapping moisture flat against the house wrap.
• Panel seam treatment: Vertical joints between HardiePanel sections are backed and sealed before the batten ever goes over them — the batten is a design element and a second layer of protection, not the only thing standing between the seam and the weather.
• Batten fastening and spacing: Battens are fastened per Hardie's engineering specs at the correct spacing into framing, not just into the panel, so they don't work loose or crack the panel underneath from wind load.
• Flashing at every transition: Window and door heads, the base of the wall, roof-to-wall intersections, and any horizontal trim breaks get proper metal flashing — the details that keep the rain-screen concept from being undone by a single unflashed joint.
• Fastener corrosion resistance: Given the salt content in the regional air, we use fasteners rated for the exposure so streaking and corrosion at fastener heads doesn't become a ten-year problem.

None of this is unique to Kendall — it's how board and batten should be built anywhere in a wet marine climate. What's specific to this area is how unforgiving the region is of skipping any single one of these steps.

Board & Batten Options Compared

Board and batten can be built out of several materials. Here's how they hold up against the conditions this area actually produces, which is why we've standardized on one of them.

Material	Moisture Behavior in a Wet Climate	Maintenance Burden	Where It Falls Short Here
Solid wood boards	Absorbs and releases moisture with every wet/dry cycle	Repainting and caulk checks every few years	Swelling, cupping, and rot at end grain and batten bases
Vinyl board & batten profile	Doesn't absorb water, but panels expand/contract and gaps open	Low, but limited repair options	Can warp or crack in cold snaps; seams aren't a true rain-screen
LP SmartSide / engineered wood	Treated to resist moisture, but still wood-based at the core	Moderate — edges and cut ends need ongoing attention	Vulnerable at any compromised seal, cut edge, or fastener hole
James Hardie fiber cement	Doesn't swell, rot, or support the wood decay that drives most siding failures	Low — periodic wash to slow moss/algae; factory finish resists fading	Requires correct engineered installation, which is why the install matters as much as the material

We don't install the first three. Fiber cement isn't immune to a bad installation, but it removes the material-level vulnerability — swelling wood, moisture-permeable cores, thermal expansion at seams — that causes most board and batten failures we see in this climate.

Our Installation Process

1. On-site assessment: We walk the exterior, check the existing wall assembly and any moisture damage, and confirm which elevations get the most sun exposure versus shade and moss buildup.
2. Tear-off and sheathing check: Old siding comes off and we inspect the sheathing underneath — this is where hidden rot from a prior installation often turns up, and it needs to be addressed before anything new goes on.
3. Weather-resistive barrier and furring: A new water-resistive barrier goes on, followed by the furring strips that create the rain-screen gap behind the HardiePanel.
4. Panel installation: HardiePanel sections go up plumb and level, with seams backed and sealed per manufacturer spec.
5. Batten installation: HardieTrim battens are fastened over the seams at engineered spacing, with flashing integrated at every horizontal break, window, and door.
6. Caulking, priming, and finish: Factory-primed edges get field-touched, and if the batten trim wasn't ordered as ColorPlus factory-finished, final paint goes on to fully seal all cut ends.
7. Cleanup and walkthrough: We walk the finished job with the homeowner, point out anything worth knowing about care going forward, and clear the site.

Choosing Colors and Panel Texture

HardiePanel comes in smooth and stucco-textured finishes, and either works for board and batten depending on whether the home is going for a cleaner modern-farmhouse look or a more traditional textured look. Ordering panels and battens in James Hardie's ColorPlus factory finish is worth serious consideration on a board and batten job specifically, because the batten strips have more exposed edge and corner area per square foot of wall than lap siding does — factory-baked color with a warranty against fading and chipping means less of that surface is depending on a field paint job to hold up over time.

Batten spacing and width also change the look more than people expect. Wider spacing reads more modern; tighter, narrower battens read closer to traditional farmhouse board and batten. We talk through this with the homeowner before ordering material, since it's much easier to decide up front than to change once panels are cut.

Keeping It Looking Right in a Moss Climate

• Rinse siding (especially north- and west-facing walls and anything under tree cover) once or twice a year to knock back early moss and algae growth before it establishes.
• Keep gutters clear so overflow doesn't run down the wall face and stay wet longer than the rest of the siding.
• Trim back vegetation and tree limbs that shade a wall year-round — shade plus moisture is what grows moss fastest.
• Check caulking at trim and penetrations every couple of years; caulk is a maintenance item on any siding system, including fiber cement.
• Address any impact damage (a ladder, a thrown branch) promptly rather than leaving an exposed edge through a wet season.

What Drives the Cost on a Board & Batten Job

We don't quote pricing on a page like this — every home is different — but these are the factors that actually move the number, so a homeowner in Kendall can think through their own project realistically.

Factor	Pushes Cost Up	Keeps Cost Down
Wall complexity	Multiple gables, dormers, cut-ins around windows	Simple rectangular wall planes
Existing wall condition	Rot or moisture damage found at tear-off	Sound sheathing found underneath old siding
Batten spacing/quantity	Narrow, tight batten spacing (more material and labor)	Wider spacing with fewer total battens
Finish choice	Field-painted trim requiring full prep and multiple coats	Factory ColorPlus finish, ready to install
Access	Steep rooflines, limited scaffold access, tall walls	Single-story, easy ground-level access

Why It Matters That We Already Work in Kendall

Board and batten built to spec in a wet climate isn't complicated in concept, but it's a job where the details — furring depth, seam sealing, flashing sequence, fastener choice — are exactly what a crew unfamiliar with this area's rain and moss patterns is most likely to shortcut or skip. A crew that already does this work throughout Lynden and the rest of Whatcom County has already seen what happens when those details are skipped on older homes in the area, and builds accordingly the first time.

We're a James Hardie–only crew for a reason: it lets us install one system correctly and consistently instead of stretching across several materials with different failure points. On a style like board and batten, where the installation quality matters as much as the material itself, that focus is what keeps the finished wall looking right through Kendall's long wet season instead of just for the first year or two.

If you're weighing board and batten for a home in Kendall, we're glad to take a look and talk through what it would actually involve on your specific walls. Use the form below to request a free, no-pressure estimate.