Board and Batten is an old kind of construction used in the 1800's and early 1900's. A house built this way had the exterior made up of vertical boards and the framing ran horizontally. (the opposite of the way stick-built homes are made today) Then, narrow trim boards were placed over the cracks between the large (1x12") boards. Actually the house I live in is a board and batten house built in 1910. When I build a shed with this pattern we use plywood and then come back with the battens every foot or 16" to create that look.
