there are many different types of sighting options you can put on the shed on this shed we use three different types which is not normal but it worked out it worked it worked well for demonstration purposes and for practical reasons as well on the rear of the shed we used a structural sheathing type of panel which also doubles as a siding on the outside it's made to look like the old board and batten or texture 111 look and it comes pre stained so once you put it up it's done and then within a few days or so you just have to paint it and it's all set for the side of the shed we use regular B grade white cedar shingles they have knots on them a little bit more than halfway up which makes them a little bit less expensive but when you cover like over like that the knots are concealed so the knots are really not a problem and it's a less expensive choice than getting the a grade left natural they last twenty to thirty years maybe a little bit longer a little bit more expensive alternative is a red cedar type of shingle it's a little bit thicker and it has a much longer life span these typically go forty years and over again depending on how they're treated and and how they weather now the red cedar a little bit longer than the white cedar and since they're more durable we can actually get a taller exposure out of them the other alternative to a natural white or natural red cedar is to stained the white cedar or red cedar ahead of time these I order from the factory and these are dipped so that they're they're covered on all edges bottom sides front and back you can see right where the line is for the dipping this really increases the lifespan of any shingle whether it's red cedar or white cedar this one happens to have a semi-transparent type of stain this is the same type of thing this is a white cedar pre dipped white cedar from the factory it just has more of a solid color stain you can use just about any stain that you want on these you can either order these from the factory pre dipped and dried or you can set up a little assembly line in your backyard and pre dip them yourself let them dry and then put them up and they'll last a lot longer if you put them up naturally the front of the shed we used a lap siding that you typically see here in New England a lot of the houses have lap siding but in this case we used a fiber cement lap siding on the front we ordered it pre finish to the color that we wanted it so once we nail it up put it in it was done and finished and we don't have to worry about protecting it for a long time unlike the beveled siding it has a square profile but once it goes up on the side it looks just like the bevel siding another option is to use wood beveled siding what the fiber cement is replicating this is regular half by six wood bevel siding it's a clear piece so if you want the look of wood on the front of your shed just like you might want to match the house if you have real wood look this is a more expensive alternative to the fiber cement product but again for that real wood look this is the only way to do it and finally we have another type of wood beveled siding this is either red wood or red cedar but this is a finger jointed siding in other words they they make up long pieces out of very small 8 12 16 inch pieces of scrap that they finger joint they glue together then they run it through the mill once they do that it goes through the painting process right in the factory so it's primed all the way around and it lasts quite a long time if you're going to paint the shed this is a good option because it's inexpensive and it's primed all the way around so there's less labor if you want a natural look then you have to go back to using the wood siding and you have to clearcoat it or stain it yourself