I’m doing termite damage repair / tenting followed by repainting my house.
Termite guy is adamant that the barges (apparently what you call an eave when it’s angled) is cedar but the painter is equally adamant that we have re-sawn wood.
I was just with the termite guy and he based his cedar call on the measured thickness and the smoothness on the back side of the boards.
Does anybody know how I can definitively determine what kind of wood I have…measurement, texture, or other means?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
best way to tell the type of wood is to take off the coating/paint or drill/cut it. beyond that... everyone is guessing.
I don't know what 're-sawn' would have to do with the species of wood. Cedar is soft, so it will be easy to probe with a screwdriver or some other pointy object, and if you have a piece that's been removed it's typically quite light in weight. However, those are just a couple preliminary clues. Scrape off a spot down to bare wood to see what's underneath the paint.
If it's cedar you can drill into it/ sand it and smell that it's cedar depending on the age.
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
That's if it's Western (Aromatic) Red Cedar. Not all cedar smells like a cedar closet.
It could be both cedar AND resawn. Cedar is a species, resawn is how it's cut.
In reply to RX Reven' :
There is so much mis-use of construction terminology- even amount professionals.
Technically, a barge board and a fascia are essentially the same thing. Fascia is at the bottom edge of the roof (gutters attach to it), and a barge board is the inverted "V" in a gable (sometimes decorative). Makes no difference if they are angled or not.
Your painter is probably calling the fascia the barge board. Pretty common.
Why is it important what species the wood is?
There are thousands of species, although only a dozen or so are common in construction. (Varies by region)
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
True, although that seems to be by far the most popular around me.
I won't use it on anything I own, I literally use it for kindling for fires and it's extremely flammable
I don't know where you live or the age of the home.
But, in much of Florida for many years in the 60s - 90s the fascia was redwood.
Now, much of the time we "wrap" the fascia with painted aluminum that we custom brake to fit. It eliminates so much hassle in the long run. Easy to clean, no more painting.
If the fascia is shot, we replace it with either PT, or pine wrapped in aluminum, or hardi board.
YMMV
SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:
Why is it important what species the wood is?
There are thousands of species, although only a dozen or so are common in construction. (Varies by region)
First, thank you to all that have provided guidance.
SVreX,
I choose to use the exact language the termite guy and painter used to avoid interjecting any assumptions.
I realize that neither is disputing that the wood is cedar, just how it's cut which will affect the thickness and texture.
I just took a bunch of measurements with good calipers and the average thickness was 1.4794" with a range of 1.4575" to 1.5055"
The house is in Southern California, was built in 1979, and has been painted at least twice (original and around 2000)
The backside does appear to be smoother which could indicate re-sawn or it may just be that it hasn't seen 41 years of sun.
To ask a more specific question, is a 1.5" cedar plank actually 1.5" or is it like 2X4's that are actually 1.5"X3.5"?
Thanks again for any guidance.
A picture is worth 1,000 words...just saying
That's a painted 2x6 fascia. (Maybe 2x8). 
Leave your calipers home!! Haha!
I'm still not clear on why it matters what species or cut the material is...
Are you trying to match texture for repairs? Concerned about proper paint methods? Wondering about tanin stains or rot resistance?
It's hard to help answer your question- don't know the purpose of it.
Since the material is painted, almost any species would look ok for a repair (after paint).
Thickness is harder. In CA, it's possible the material is sold as nominal dimensional lumber. It would be called a "cedar 2x6", and would be very close to 1.5" (+- the kind of discrepancies your are measuring). It is also possible it came from a mill (not a building supply). In that case, it may be called 8/4 cedar S1S. (That's pronounced "eight quarter cedar surfaced 1 side"). If it came from a mill, it would have much more variation in thickness. Their accuracy is less reliable.
In either case, it would never be measured to thousandths of an inch. Wood varies too much for that in its natural moisture variations.
RX Reven' said:
Does anybody know how I can definitively determine what kind of wood I have…measurement, texture, or other means?
To answer your question specifically, no. You can't determine species by measurement or texture.
In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :
Hi SVreX,
Some sections have termite damage and will be replaced. My objective is to match the sections that won't be replaced in terms of thickness, texture, and any other properties such as how it'll take paint, age, etc.
Maybe I'm being too nit picky...medical device engineer...we go as many decimal places as humanly possible and then we try to get a few more.
Thanks for your guidance.
Termites only eat cedar as a last resort. Learning not to use machinist tolerances on framing was a really hard thing for me to get over. Framing carpentry tolerances are measured in 0.25", not 25 thousandths. I still tend to cut lumber to tight and have to shave it down.
