Representative Wall Section

Yesterday we put up a "test section" of the knotty pine interior siding (5/16"-thick T&G) to see how it works. It seems doable (well, we ARE superheroes, after all). Here are some pictures to illustrate what the walls are like:
First you cut the insulation to size; if you're a perfectionist, you will spend waaay too long on this step making sure there are no gaps anywhere. Then you put the plastic sheeting over it (6 mils thick) and follow that with the siding itself. Alright! Now we know what a wall is going to look like.




Rather than using finishing nails we used some ribbed nails just in case. It is probably fine to use normal nails everywhere for the siding since if one is vibrating out you can just pound it back in. The rationale for using screws everywhere in the framing/sheathing is that those won't be accessible later and you don't want the house falling apart while driving/vibrating down the road/etc. For the interior siding we plan to use nails.

The area in the photo is directly above the porch. The thought was that this area will be much easier to access now (prior to installing porch roof) than later.