How to Choose an Outside Corner for a Wood Rain Screen System

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Choosing an Outside Corner Detail for your Wood Rain Screen Design

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We are often asked “what is the best way to create an outside corner for the Climate-Shield Rain Screen Wood Siding System”.  The short answer to this question is that there are a variety of rain screen outside corner choices to meet your design needs and budget requirements for your rain screen project. Climate-Shield has developed its own aluminum rain screen outside corner that protects the ends of the siding boards and provides an architectural detail for the outside corner of the rain screen. There are also any number of creative wood rain screen outside corner solutions that can be pre-built or assembled on site to meet your rain screen design and construction needs.

 

Option 1: Climate-Shield Aluminum Rain Screen Outside Corner System

The Climate-Shield aluminum rain screen outside corner is a two piece component cumaru-siding-with-rainscreen-outside-corner-green-resized-345-1system ; the base piece installs securely to the outside corner of the structure before you start to install any rain screen siding. After the cladding installation is complete, the Climate-Shield Rain Screen Aluminum Outside corner finish piece can be tapped into place using a rubber mallet. The outside corner finish piece has a mill finish as a standard finish.  The outside corner finish piece may also be powder coat finished in many colors to complement your design scheme and colors.

 

Option 2: Rainscreen Vertical Wood Outside Corner with Lock-Joint

This wood rain screen outside corner ipe-hardwood-outside-corner-for-rain-screen-system-resized-345assembly can be pre-built in a properly equipped wood shop and then assembled and installed on site. This rain screen wood outside corner is available in sizes and wood species to match your wood cladding and meet your rain screen design needs. The lock joint helps to keep the joint tightly knit together.  While there is no guarantee that this rain screen corner assembly will stay together over time and exposure in harsh climates, it is as secure as can be possible for a wood rain screen outside corner.

 

Option 3: Wood Rainscreen Mitered Outside Corner

Because wood typically has a tendency to shrink as it dries outdoors, we are not advocates of mitered outside corners.  As the wood acclimates to the outdoor site conditions, there will be some movement of the wood. The initial dimensional changes of wood while it acclimates outdoors are usually the big adjustment, and then seasonal adjustments with UV exposure, temperature, moisture content and humidity occur throughout the life cycle of the wood.  If you are looking for an outside corner for your rain screen design that will never “open up”, this is not for you.wood-rain-screen-mitered-outside-corner

Be that as it may, many of our clients insist on mitered outside corners for their rainscreen designs.  We do not advise or advocate this method of rain screen outside corners.  If you must use this method, we suggest that you fasten the wood rainscreen corner material as securely as possible to minimize the movement of the miter joint over time and outdoor exposure.

Many contractors have developed installation methods for mitered rain screen wood corners on the actual rain screen siding boards themselves.  Most rain screen installers securely fasten the ends of the cladding boards to one another by pre-drilling and carefully screwing the ends together.  Another method we have seen used in the field is to face screw the ends of the board directly into a small piece of ¾” marine grade plywood (placed under the end of the siding board, like a furring strip, and attached to the exterior sheathing). This type of fastening may require adjustment over time.

Option 4: Wood Rainscreen Horizontal Outside Corner

This horizontal outside corner is designed for use with the Climate-Shield rainscreen system. This method takes the guesswork out of rainscreen horizontal outside corner installation and design. It installs easily and performs exceptionally well. 

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More information about outside corner options here.

See how easily this wood rainscreen horizontal outside corner method assembles:

  


For additional information about rain screen siding options, rainscreen system design, installing rain screen systems and lots more, please feel free to visit our website or click the links below:

Climate-Shield Rain Screen Wood Siding System

Architectural Details

Wood Rain Screen Cladding / Siding Options

Climate-Shield Rain Screen System Components

Wood Rain Screen Picture Galleries

Check out our helpful white paper about sustainable wood rain screen systems and wood rain screen design.  Please download, “The Ultimate Guide to Building Green with Rain Screen Wood Siding”. You can download your own FREE Rain Screen Guide today by clicking the button below:

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