How to Cover Gaps between wood planks?

August 29, 2012 10:31 AM

I have a small paddock in my horse pasture that is used for both tack and hay storage and grooming. It is very crude: tin roof and wood planks with large gaps in between them. Last winter, I used tarp to cover the walls in the tack/hay storage room, but the wind blew them in and over time it was not effective. Without re-building the paddock and spending a lot of money, what is the best way to cover those gaps in between the wood planks? The gaps are probably around 2". Thank you!
posted by nurgle to home & garden (8 answers total)

You could plug the gaps with cob, clay, or redo the walls with light clay-straw slip or stack strawbales around the structure, depending on what materials are readily available and how much work you want to do. If you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, you could have this dealt with free or incredibly cheap. If you know any organic/ natural building type folks or have a university nearby, you could quite possibly find volunteers who would enjoy a project like that.
posted by windykites at 10:43 AM on August 29, 2012

Nail vertical battens (maybe a 1x4) to cover the gaps (from the inside is fine - then it is board-on-batten, as opposed to the conventional batten-on-board configuration of "board and batten"). DO NOT nail the batten to each vertical plank, as it will restrain the boards from expanding/contracting. Just nail to one side.
posted by misterbrandt at 10:49 AM on August 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm confused- a paddock is basically a small corral, an acre or so in size. You're trying to enclose the entire paddock? Or is this a building or something like a round pen with wood walls but no top?
posted by fshgrl at 10:49 AM on August 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Try Craigslist for scrap lumber. If you can find plywood, either put it up in sheets or rip battins. Nailing from inside looks best with scrap lumber. You might even be able to get good tin if your willing to tear down a shed or take off a roof.

I did the same thing a couple months ago with one of my hay storage areas that was exactly as you describe. Craigslist provided loads of *free* interior sheet paneling. I painted the back side of the panels, then nailed them on doubled up, as they were extremely thin. I also put a 2x4 across the top, middle, and bottom to keep them from being pushed in. Afterwards, I painted the exterior of the shed. I now have a weatherproof fancy interior oak paneled hay shed that looks quite nice from both exterior and interior. A coat of paint covers a multitude of sins when you're jury-rigging.

I actually built a neat western style board-on-board 'Tack Shack' with my girlfriend out of old pallets. We set up pallets for the main building, then used boards from other pallets to cover the gaps. We then cut the nails holding the boards on the other pallets till we had enough for battins, and then used wood screws to attach. The outside is natural rough-cut lumber for a western look. We pieced scrap plywood together to form the interior walls. (one wall has quarter inch, the other five eights, etc.) After a coat of free paint inside, by the time she got all her decorative hangers with harness, bridles, and equipment, her saddle rack, blanket hangers etc, plus decorative touches like wind chimes, show ribbons, pictures, etc., it looks like a million dollars. She scrounged the door off Craigslist for 10 bucks, and we cut it in half to make a dutch door. The shed has a porch surrounded by railings, and we've had lots of compliments on it.

Get free stuff and go hog wild.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:37 AM on August 29, 2012

It is a small, square building with wood walls, metal piping, and a tin roof. I called it a paddock, maybe that is the wrong term. I just want to enclose 2 walls, the outer facing walls of the room where I store tack and hay.
posted by nurgle at 11:49 AM on August 29, 2012

Being, apparently, lazier than most I would go back to the tarp concept BUT tack it down with a heavy duty stapler, grommets and screws/nails, or using thin lath strips nailed/screwed top, bottom and one or two in the middle.
posted by uncaken at 11:53 AM on August 29, 2012

misterbrandt's suggestion is going to be the most effective long-term solution, but if you want to get another year out of the tarp approach, nail the tarps to the leeward side of the walls--i.e., on a southern wall, if the wind blows from the south, nail to the outside; if it blows from the north, nail to the inside--so that the wind is constantly trying to hold the tarp to the wall instead of trying to tear it away. And use plasticap nails.
posted by bricoleur at 1:33 PM on August 29, 2012

Ah, crap, the *windward* side, not the leeward.
posted by bricoleur at 1:33 PM on August 29, 2012