For a siding style rooted in practicality — wide boards nailed to barn frames, with narrow strips sealing the gaps against a New England winter — board and batten has had a remarkable second act. After decades as a footnote in residential exterior design, it’s showing up on new construction across the country, on Pinterest boards, in design magazines, and increasingly, in the spec sheets of custom home builders.
The question for eastern white pine manufacturers isn’t whether the trend is real. It’s whether the industry is positioned to benefit from it.
Who’s Driving the Conversation?
Here’s something worth noting: much of the loudest advocacy for board and batten right now is coming from manufactured siding companies — fiber cement brands, vinyl panel makers, and steel siding manufacturers. James Hardie, LP SmartSide, Quality Edge — they’re all publishing guides, trend pieces, and installation showcases built around board and batten. They’re not just responding to demand. They’re actively shaping it.
That’s not a criticism. It’s a signal.
When manufacturers invest in marketing a specific look, they move markets. Contractors get familiar with the style. Builders start specifying it. Homeowners see it featured and ask for it by name. The modern farmhouse wave didn’t happen by accident — it was amplified by a coordinated ecosystem of product marketing, design media, and television. Board and batten rode that wave, and it hasn’t come back down.
Where Does Natural Wood Fit?
The irony is that board and batten is, at its core, a wood story. The style was born in the sawmill era — long, clear boards that could run floor to roofline without a seam, sealed tight with a simple batten strip. Eastern white pine was a workhorse of early American construction precisely because it could deliver that kind of board: stable, workable, and available in wide widths.
Today, fiber cement and vinyl dominate the board and batten conversation largely because they’ve dominated the marketing. But the case for natural wood — and eastern white pine specifically — is legitimate. Authenticity is increasingly valued in high-end residential construction. Architects and custom builders working at the top of the market aren’t always looking for a wood substitute. They want the real thing, with a warranty they can stand behind.
A Trend Worth Watching
No one should overstate where things stand. Board and batten remains a niche within the broader siding market, and manufactured products have real advantages in cost and maintenance. But the trend line is moving in the right direction, and eastern white pine manufacturers have a credible claim to the origin story of this style.
The manufactured siding industry is already building the market. The opportunity for natural wood producers is to show up in that conversation — with product, with messaging, and with the confidence that what they’re offering isn’t a nostalgia play. It’s the original.
