With the house vapor-barred and fenestrated, we’re getting awfully close to wrapping up the dry-in construction phase.  What a pleasant surprise, then, to receive a call from Gary Norton at the Timber Shop in the Charleston area.  A tiny house fan himself, he came across our blog through the general online Tiny world, and called me up to see if we were looking for local wood siding.

Zach and I had been discussing cypress siding for a while.  It’s native to the southeast, with great water-resistant properties, perfect for a building envelope.  Gary and I got to talking, and he’s hopefully going to donate some awesome cypress siding to our house!  He told me to pick out a siding pattern, which I had, to my chagrin as an architect, never even thought about.  Oh well, nobody starts out knowing everything.  After some research, we decided on ship-lap siding.

(huge house, but you get the idea)

Ship-lap provides a really low-profile, tidy look.  The (usually) half-inch rabbets overlap tightly, giving the exterior minimal visual movement.  This look lends itself particularly well to a small home – it’s a less cluttered aesthetic for small wall surfaces.

(not cypress)

For our purposes, the potential partnership with Gary and the Timber Shop is completely ideal.  Locally sourced, naturally water-resistant wood from someone genuinely interested in the Tiny House movement!