What Is Shiplap Wood Used For

Joanna uses natural wood shiplap as wainscoting in this home s living room.

What is shiplap wood used for.

A little light internet research reveals that shiplap is a kind of wooden board that s often used for constructing sheds barns and other rustic buildings. While shiplap may look like plain run of the mill wood panels that s not the whole story. Shiplap is either rough sawn 25 millimetres 1 inch or milled 19 mm 3 4 in pine or similarly inexpensive wood between 76 and 254 mm 3 and 10 in wide with a 9 5 12 7 mm 3 8 1 2 in rabbet on opposite sides of each edge. If you nail plain wooden boards to a wall and call it shiplap that s not quite accurate.

The same overlapping joint that makes true shiplap tight and weatherproof in a house made for a water tight ship too. There are long wooden boards involved but genuine shiplap actually has overlapping grooves that fit together to make the design weather tight. Genuine shiplap is a specific type of wood plank used to create exterior siding for barns sheds and historic house says john mochelle a new york city architect. This also gives shiplap its distinctive.

It originated in harsh climates. Shiplap likely gets its name from a style of shiplap that was once used to make ships. You can also create a taste of rustic style by adding wooden box awnings over your home s windows like joanna gaines did in this craftsman style living room. What makes shiplap shiplap is how each plank is prepped for installation.