Siding Strips or Panels?

[Marlene]

On my previous dollhouses over the years, I sometimes used siding panels and the outcome was perfect. However, I am presently working on my Pierce and using siding panels and I'm not liking the end result.

I have never used strips and was wondering if anyone has used the two kinds and which they preferred.

I would imagine it takes longer with the strips but time is not an issue for me, the end result has to be perfect. Any brands better than the others? I would like the overlapped effect for sure not just a wooden flat wall.

Your help is most appreciated.

[ilovecats]

Good question!

I used siding panels on my federal. You can tell. I did the very best that i could with them and i wouldn't use them again. The overlap just isn't made right and it would not lay any better than i got them. Mine actually looks better than many i've seen but i don't like the way my house turned out. (the exterior just cuz you can tell where the panels meet).

[peggyquade]

I've used both and prefer the strips, personally. You can buy the individual strips in different widths (I used 1/2" x 1/16" on the Pierce I just got done siding). I know that Micro-Mark sells the strips of wood in many thicknesses and widths in basswood. The strips I used were actually cedar but I havbe no idea where I got those from! You over lap them by about 1/16" of an inch....create a spacer out of a scrap piece of wood...mine was 3/8" wide so when you glue on your first strip, you just put the spacer on the top edge of the strip you just glued on, draw a line and that line is the top edge of the next strip you glue on.

The other way is to buy already-beveled strips of wood. Now, I have some that I've had for years but now that I want more, I can't seem to find them but I'm still looking. With those, you don't need to fool with that spacer or overlapping...the strips are thin at the top, thicker at the bottom so just butting them against each other creates the overlap effect you want.

Some people still put the corner strips on the exterior corners of the dollhouse so that you have square cuts on all your pieces of siding but I didn't on the Pierce I did...it's a lot more work. You have to angle cut each piece and then bevel the end so that it meets up with the joining piece on the other side of the corner nicely. There were a lot of gaps on the corners but sanding seemed to fill in a lot of them and then there's wood putty for the big gaps.

Also, it was quite difficult doing the siding effect inbetween the windows in the bays. I would suggest either not siding the bays (doing stucco or some other effect) or maybe, if you haven't already put the exterior window trim on, glue the strips of siding right over the window opening and then cut the window opening out after your are done. I don't know how hard that is to do...it was done by the previous owner of a big wooden dollhouse I just got but I haven't tried it myself.

Good luck and have fun, take lots of breaks because it is a tiresome job after awhile. It took me about a month, with a two week hiatus in the middle to do other projects. But the end result is pretty nice. Check out my gallery for more pictures!

[wenlaine]

I recently finished siding my Van Buren. I used the individual strips and I also put corner strips of wood to make it neater looking. You can check it out in My Blog. I've done a few houses with these strips and I love working with them. I haven't ever used the panels so I can't say whether they would be better or not. This is the siding I used.

Clapboard Siding

[Marlene]

Think I have my answer already with just a few responses.

PeggyQuade, how many stripes or square footage did you use for your Pierce with the strips?

Thanks everyone

[havanaholly]

My first siding job was the Westville and I used the Greenleaf siding strips in the kit. I wanted to do vertical siding to finish off the downstairs interior of my Orchid and the mini shop I found only had the panels, which I sanded down a bit & used. I guess they're OK for what I'm using them for, but I far prefer the siding strips. I have also read of using card if you don't have access to wood strips.

With Westvill I put the trim on over the siding (I read somewhere that made a neater finish). Now I trace around the window & door trims onto the house wall panels before assembling the shell and then I butt the siding to the line, cutting around any curves, etc., and I like the results better. I used this method on the Haunted House porch and on the Coventry Cottage I built (pictures in the team blogs).

[peggyquade]

Good idea about tracing the lines of the window trim onto the exterior of the walls and then butting the strips up to them! Also great link to that site with the inexpensive wood strips! Much better than the price I found!

As far as how much did I use on the Pierce...I'm afraid I didn't keep track! The end of the house with no windows on it is exactly 12" wide and I used 40 strips for that area alone. You could probably do some calculations for the rest of the house, based on that.

[Marlene]

Been on the net searching today and found 24" long, tongue and grooved cedar strips that I'm going to try. They are from the little dollhouse company in Toronto and the houses on their website were done with them. The finished results look quite nice.

The panel siding is already ripped off waiting for the strips to arrive (hopefully tomorrow)

[Marlene]

Been on the net searching today and found 24" long, tongue and grooved cedar strips that I'm going to try. They are from the little dollhouse company in Toronto and the houses on their website were done with them. The finished results look quite nice.

The panel siding is already ripped off waiting for the strips to arrive (hopefully tomorrow)