We knew we wanted a black house. In fact, when designing the house, it was one of the only things that really remained consistent and we didn’t change our minds about (ok, truthfully, we strayed a little bit – testing the waters, but as they say, once you go black, you probably won’t go back… or something like that).
Our previous house had been painted black by the previous owners (we are since soul mates) and we loved it dearly. But really we did not not want to simply paint our new house black. Paint is great for covering up years of other layers of toxic paint, as in our old house, but not as an initial coat. So, what to do?
In the process of researching, planning and designing the house, we collected hundreds of inspiration pictures. The majority of my “architecture” folder on Pinterest is of black houses, and each one I’d look at and try to figure out what they used: paint, stain, or something else.
One of the first “something else” option we were initially really drawn to the traditional Japanese siding treatment called “Shou-sugi-ban”. Taken from a Treehugger article on this process:
This is a traditional Japanese method of preserving cedar, where it is burned enough to create a layer of char on the outside. The char serves a number of functions: it seals and preserves the wood, it makes it significantly more fire-resistant, and termites and bugs hate it.
It is said that this type of treatment can allow the wood to survive for 80-100 years without maintenance and much longer if treated with oil every 15 years.
Here is an impressive video of the traditional process in Japan:
Ok, so just imagine doing that 200 times over to clad your moderately sized house. Now that is labour intensive! Most people nowadays, from what I’ve read, use a blow torch to char each board, then dunk it in water, scrub the charred bits off, and then oil it. Even with a blow torch this a crazy amount of work, but in the end you get something really impressive and completely unique.
I really thought we were going to do this for our place, however, there were a few reasons we abandoned this idea. Firstly was the obvious: OMG, that would be so much work!! Second, cedar is crazy expensive right now, running in the range of $7-9 per sq.ft. But the final reason, was that we had heard that someone had decided to do a house in shou sugi ban in the City. Curious to see it in real life, we drove over to take a look at it. And well, to be honest, we really hated it. Perhaps it was just the people who did it did a bad job, but it looked really… gross. It basically looked like a house that had had a fire recent go through it (which I suppose is true). I think I would like to test it out on a shed or coffee table or something before I invest thousands of dollars into the siding of my house and ended up hating myself over it.
So, we turned to the natural and perhaps, most obvious option, stain. Stain is all well and good, but you really need to stain your wood every 5 years (or less) to preserve the wood and keep it looking good. And really, you still should use cedar to have optimal rot protection with plain old stain. That is until my wife came across a little black Swedish house.
Granted, this house is actually sided in plywood, which I would never do, but what intrigued me was the rich black colour, that the grain of the wood still came through (not painted), and that they had used a siding that was not cedar.
As I read more into this, they used “black tar” for the siding. Through some detective work, we eventually found this same house linked to a Swedish product called “Auson black pine tar.”
I had never heard or seen this product before but I was very intrigued. Also, it was Swedish, and seeing as our house had a lot of Scandinavian inspiration, this only seemed fitting.
We found that the product was available in Canada through a website called Solvent Free Paint. Score. We emailed the company to learn a bit more about it:
We started out with the soffits, which would be easiest to install first. Yes, it is true that most people use aluminum or vinyl vented soffits, which are fool proof but are so fucking boring. Instead, we purchased 1×6 tongue and groove clear white pine. Now one thing you need to know about staining (or painting) wood for siding or soffits, is that you mustn’t let any part of the wood be left untreated (otherwise the lifespan of the wood will drop by 50-75%, so preparation is key)! That is, you must stain all six sides of the wood. For the tongue and groove pine, this meant that yes, we had to stain the tongue AND the groove, which is a crazy, tedious and annoying task.
Blue Heron EcoHaus 
Hi I am going to be redoing the siding on my house with 1×6 pine shiplap. I am finishing it with Auson pine tar. I was just wondering what you used for a house wrap? Did you use lath or just secure the siding right on the wrapped sheathing? Thanks for any information you have.
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We used Typar house wrap and secured it right to the house wrap. In hindsight, I would probably have put strapping (lath) behind it to give the siding room to breathe, so I think that would be a good idea for you. It’s not required for building code here so the contractor didn’t do it, but it’s a good idea to reduce cupping of the boards and improve longevity of the siding especially if you get a fair bit of rain and moisture during the year in your area.
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I love your project. Working on a long house in Bar Harbor Maine. Was wondering if you are still happy with the pine tar siding? Also what color window did you choose?
Thanks for all your help
Desiree Sirois
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Hi Desiree, we are still happy with the pine tar siding. It’s been up for about 18 months now. The color is great. I really like the matte finish. There is some pine sap that has seeped out of some of the knots in the wood which has given the siding an even more unique look. As for the windows, they are black as well.
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Am an architect in Seattle and we are about to use the same Auson Black Pine Tar for our own newly built house in Seattle. So glad I came across this page. Would you be willing to email me offline about this? We’ve done samples with it with various mixes of the tar, linseed and gum turpentine and really like it. However our construction ran longer than expected and we have hit rainy season here. Our cedar siding isn’t up yet, and I am hoping to get a little more detail and advice about your pre-staining process. My email: daintydu at gmail
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You bet. I just sent you a quick message via email. I’m happy to offer some help.
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I like the pine tar finish you guys came up with. It looks great!
And you’re right to believe shou-sugi-ban is a lot of work. We’re doing it right now for our new house. You can check out the details here:
https://kimchiandkraut.net/2016/10/31/cedar-siding-delivered
The charring is a lot more fun than the oiling and wiping down part.
I’ve enjoyed your blog and your posts to Green Building Advisor. We’ve reached many of the same conclusions you have regarding Passive House certification — apart from ideal climate conditions and building a two-story cube, it doesn’t make a lot of financial sense. We learned this the hard way (losing $30,000 to our original builder).
Congratulations on your house! It looks fantastic!
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Hi Eric – thanks for your comments. I read the article you posted on the shou sugi ban process. Looks fun! But as I suspected – time consuming. I was wondering if it would be necessary to char the back of the boards due to the cedar being rot resistant?
Do you have photos of the siding in place on the house?
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Hi Kent – To be honest, I’m not sure if it’s necessary to char the back. Arguably, since it won’t be directly exposed to the elements, it shouldn’t be necessary and should be fine even over the long-term — especially with a substantial rain screen system behind it.
I’ve always seen people burn both sides, and I guess I just liked the idea of avoiding even a potential issue in the future — plus the charring is fun, so I didn’t mind the extra time it required.
It’s not up yet — just starting our build. We’re trying to finish up the oiling of the siding right now, before the weather turns cold. We need the siding to be ready for late winter/early spring installation.
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I’ll be interested to see it installed. Thanks for the info
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Hi Kent – I finally have pics of the finished charred cedar on our house posted on my blog:
https://kimchiandkraut.net/2019/09/21/siding-part-2-charred-cedar-shou-sugi-ban/
Thanks for posting details about the Auson pine tar — we ended up using it for touch-ups on our siding to great effect. If not for your blog and your post about the Auson product, I’m not sure what we would’ve used instead.
Thanks again for the help!
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I’m a builder in the Mountains of Utah, and I have an architect that is pushing to use black pine tar on a project that we have underway . I showed the owner pictures of your house and they loved it! (as do I) I’d love to hear from you on coverage rates, and cost. I was able to check out the website of the supplier that you supplied, but its a bit daunting. Did you mix with raw linseed oil or boiled linseed oil ? Any other specifics would be really helpful, thanks in advance ! My email is tandttravis@hotmail.com
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Hi Travis – I’m glad you’re considering the pine tar. We love it. We’ve had it on for the past 18 months and are still very happy with the decision to use it. We mixed 50/50 black pine tar with raw linseed oil. This helps with penetration, coverage and ease of application. The pine tar is super thick and sticky unless it is thinned. You do NOT want to use boiled linseed oil. It won’t mixed properly. I think we went through about 15 gallons (of the 50/50 mixture) to apply two coats to all six sides of each board. The cost was not outrageous. I believe it was less than $750 for the supplies. I did email the suppliers to ask them to help me confirm what I would need and I found them very helpful and knowledgeable.
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Thanks for the info ! I just made up some samples with the black pine tar and the genuine pine tar, thinned in different ratios. I’ll be curious to see it when it dries, it looks really cool right now. It’s only about 25 degrees outside, and maybe 50 in my garage (Fahrenheit) so it’s probably going to take a week to dry !
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Great. We stained when it was cool outside too some days but then we would heat the pine tar and linseed oil in a pot to 90Degrees F. It goes on much easier and penetrates the wood better when warm. Good luck
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This is an awesome resource, thanks! I’m an architect in San Francisco, and considering using the Auson Black Pine Tar and organic linseed oil in a 1:1 ratio for staining Western Red Cedar 1×4 T&G siding black. The project is a house in Napa with serious SW exposure to the sun–it is going to get blasted all year. Any feedback regarding fading of the nearly-black color due to sun exposure, now that the house has been up a few years? Our client wants a low-maintenance finish, but also wants the dark color to not fade (or at least stay dark for 2+ years)….thoughts?
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Hi Ryan – it’s faded a bit – maybe 20%, but I think it’s due to rain and not the sun as much as it’s on the east and west sides more so than the south. The north side has not faded at all. We did two coats of stain and it probably could have handled a third easily. I might do a recoat in another year or so to darken it up a bit. I’m still very happy with the product and would highly recommend it.
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Hi Kent,
Awesome news, thanks for the feedback. I have a few follow-ups if you have time (apologies in advance if these are answered elsewhere on this post):
1. Where is the house located?
2. When was the completion date?
Thanks!
Ryan
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The house is located just south of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada. Completion date was late 2015.
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Hey Kent – My husband and I are currently building an addition to a house in Raleigh, North Carolina… we are planning to use a pine shiplap siding and either the black pine tar or the pine tar vitriol (the gray) to stain/treat the wood. I wanted to ask you about the smell… how strong was it, how long did it take to dissipate, and did it get inside your house by any chance? We live in a dense, historic neighborhood and we don’t want to have all our neighbors hating us… nor do we want the inside of our house to smell like a campfire. Thanks in advance for your help…. feel free to email me if that is easier!
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Hi, we stained it outside in our shop with the doors open before putting it in on the house. It is smelly. Smells like a bonfire. But more like the smell of a bonfire on your clothes the next day. We let it dry for about 3 weeks before putting it on the house. It’s not horrible but you won’t miss it. The smell lingers for about 3 weeks but the first couple days are the most prominent. We didn’t have it penetrate into the house though. I think your immediate neighbors would probably notice the smell especially if the wind is right… might want to warn them? But it gradually goes away and after 3-4 weeks the smell is totally gone. It also takes a long time to fully dry. At least 3-4 weeks as well so don’t lean on it!
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Hi Guys,
Great Job on the siding! I was inspired and am doing about the same thing right now. We’ve done one coat of the black tar/linseed oil on about 550LF I’m wondering when you stacked it did the 1″X1″ material leave a mark on the face or did it not affect it. right now mine is stacked with 1X1. I might have to change it up if it leaves a mark on the siding. Also, what kinda nails did your contractor use on the siding? I know the shiplap needs to be face nailed but am still looking around for the right nail for the job.
thanks for posting all this info on the internet, its a big help!
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Hi lee- the stacking did leave a slight mark but I put on the second coat once the boards were installed on the house so if covered it fine after that. As for nails we used a 16 gauge finishing nails for installation. I’m not sure it was the best as we have gotten some cupping on some of the boards. Some people have suggested screwing them down but then you just need to make sure you’re very precise with your screws as the obviously will leave a bigger and noticeable feature to the boards
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Wanted to check and see how the finish was holding up
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Pretty good. It’s faded a bit with sun and rain. I’d put two coats on initially maybe should have done a third at the start. Still looks good it’s just that you can see the grain of the wood more bow
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Hi Kent,
Me and my wife are building a beach house in Maine and want to use the black pine tar. We where wondering how hot the house gets with everything being black. Our house will be in full sun with solar panels on the roof. We are not air conditioner people and are wondering if the black paint affects the temperature in your home.
Kiki
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I have not noticed any effect on temperature in the house. Granted we have 16” thick walls (R56) which likely impacts it. If you had 2×4 walls and minimal insulation then I think it might heat things up
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Hi Kent,
Would you mind sharing your precise staining method? We are using Auson Black Pine Tar (50/50 w linseed oil) on T&G tight knot Western Red Cedar that has been lightly sanded with fine grit to open the grain. We roll on the product, back brush, then wipe off excess as you normally do with wood stain- the end result on the smooth side of the board is more of a dark brown and not the deep black we want. We tried skipping the wiping step for the second coat, but it looks like it leaves “spots” of pigment on the surface and has splotches that haven’t dried after 3 days in the sun. Any advice is appreciated! jenglasco geemail.
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Hi Jennifer, here are a few thoughts initially…
How dry is your wood? Do you have a moisture reader? We left our wood out to dry initially until it was down to around 12% moisture context. You definitely don’t want it above 15%. Lower the better. Cedar can be pretty wet in my experience.
Are you applying the stain in a warm temperature or is the stain itself warm? The best application is at 25 degrees Celsius or higher.
Also, what type of linseed oil are you using? It should be purified raw linseed oil only. We used Allback brand.
If you’re doing all of that then my other thoughts would be that we used pine and not cedar so that may effect how it takes the stain to initially. It may be that it will need a couple coats more.
Our method was to use warm stain (if it was below 25 degrees Celsius outside then we heated the stain in an old pot on or old stove in the shop) then applied it with a brush by hand. We didn’t roll it on. We applied a liberal amount of stain but not excessive. We didn’t wipe it off. I do recall it being pretty black right off the bat… as it dried I think it didn’t lighten a little bit. We left the boards to dry and the stain absorb after each coat which took about 3-4 weeks at least.
I would suggest doing a couple boards and then leave them to dry and the stain absorb before trying a second coat. It’s possible you may need to do 3 coats? I hope this helps!
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Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. After asking around, I’m pretty sure our problem is due to wiping the excess stain off. The look is beautiful, but not black. We are considering a second coat and will test some boards.
To answer your q’s Incase it helps others- our cedar is dry, we are applying in the lower end of the recommended temp range so we bought a “coconut blanket” which heats our 5 gallon bucket to 80F- there is a noticeable difference in absorption with the product warm- I highly recommend this!
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Great glad to hear. Good luck with the progress
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Good work!
Have you had any issues with mold or milder staining on your pine soffits since its been installed? I had done ours using 50:50 spirits and tung oil, but after 2 years its all beginning to stain black. I think the tung oil just ended up being a nice hydrocarbon source for the proliferation of mold/milder.
Thanks!
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We have not had any issues with mold or mildew. The pine tar itself is supposed to be a protectant to prevent such issues
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Excellent.
May I ask which of the Auson tints you used to get the light natural pine appearance of your soffits? Presumably the darkening effect is reduced with the incorporation of linseed oil to the mix?
Thanks!
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We used their “natural” stain
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First, thanks for making this blog. Found it when via GRA, I think, and really enjoyed reading all the posts about your journey. I’m about to begin mine, and am doing more of the ‘wrap it in a thick sweater’ method, but really enjoyed reading your experience with double stud construction. Anywho…
I’m wondering about the pine tar, specifically:
A) Its been over 5 years, still holding up well? on all sides?
B) Think I read somewhere you used finishing nails to attach it. Any cupping problems? did the nails leave any noticeable holes, or does the black pretty much make them invisible?
C) When it comes time to reseal it, are you supposed to do so with only the lindseed oil or the 50/50 mixture? Though I read somewhere that it just needs the oils replenished.
D) Did the soffits yellow any? or does the pine tar provide any kind of prevention to yellowing?
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Thanks!
A- the pine tar is holding up reasonably. I stained it again 2 years ago as I had only done 2 coats initially. 3 coats is better. I’m hoping it will hold up well for another 5 years.
B- I did you finishing nails. You can’t see the holes. It looks pretty clean to me. A few boards did cup and needed to be re nailed with a stronger nail when I restained.
C- I restained with the 50/50 mix a couple years ago. It would be interesting to try just with linseed next time. The pine tar is expensive
D- the soffits were done with the natural pine tar and linseed oil. So it was yellowed immediately due to the stain. The color has not changed overtime. It doesn’t get direct sunlight or rain like the walls which is the reason why stain fades typically
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