Work has started on the siding. It looks good. In this suburban city dominated by faux Spanish and Mediterranean stucco builder homes, the shou-sugi-ban siding will be polarizing, many will hate it and some will find it very cool. One reason we decided to rebuilt rather than purchase a new home is that our neighborhood has no design restriction.
I like how the look of the siding changes depending on the view angle and the position of the sun. The hint of silver charcoal is nice. Like a black car, it’ll be easy to tell when the house is dirty. The dust really shows.
The burnt siding is oiled with Penofin onsite before being attached.
The second floor siding material should arrive after Thanksgiving. It’ll be interesting to see the contrast of this material against the shou-sugi-ban.
The neighborhood is a bit crowded now, the roof of the neighbor’s house is being redone and another neighbor is doing some remodeling work.
Pursuing Wabi 
I am a builder in Oklahoma City, OK. In a round of research on extractive bleeding and methods of prevention I came across the Shou Sugi Ban technique. That line of research inevitably leads to your blog. We have been making several test boards and have a few questions. The University of Kansas’ Studio 804 designed and built a house that utilized the same technique using Douglas Fir rather than cedar. This weekend we decided to take an overnight trip to Kansas City to see how the siding looked after two years of weathering. Unfortunately it was a disaster. Most of the boards had noticeable wear with some boards having long runs where it was actually grey and no signs of black at all.
1. How has your Shou Sugi Ban held up? How has it weathered?
2. Did you use the Penofin Ebony?
3. What did your contractor or you as the client learn about this technique that you would do differently if you could do it again?
4. Did your contractor burn both sides of board? Scrub both sides after burning
Thank you for your prompt reply, we are seriously considering this for our new modern designed home and will proceed based in part on your response.
Scott
1. How has your Shou Sugi Ban held up? How has it weathered?
Its held up well so far – I’ve see the burned sugi in Japan, mostly in the countryside, and they seem to hold up well also – weathered shou sugi ban also has a good look.
2. Did you use the Penofin Ebony?
Yes we did – and it has gotten re-oiled a couple of times.
3. What did your contractor or you as the client learn about this technique that you would do differently if you could do it again?
Hmm not sure – the design/builder was originally talking about double burning but it was only burned once – maybe double burning would increase the durability?
4. Did your contractor burn both sides of board? Scrub both sides after burning
Only the front was burned and scrubbed.
Thank you so much. This is exactly how we have been testing. We are very fond of the appearance if the boards after the scrub and wash but before the oil. We currently experimenting with oiled finishes that dont alter the color, no luck so far, but getting close. We really favor the brown but in the end the black oil may be more forgiving during finishing.
We’re doing this process on a project next week with Port Orford Cedar. On other projects, we have left the Port Orford unfinished and it patinas to a nice silver gray. We’re thinking about leaving this siding charred and scrubbed, but no oil finish – the Port Orford seems stable enough to handle it. Has anybody done this process without applying oil/stain afterward? How has it held up?
Thanks!