Cypress was used as you described here in Florida for many years as well. But over the years it seemed not to hold up so well. I just got through putting some on my house. It was built in 1983 and was sided with Cypress that had been flitch cut ( where the boards coming from the tree were slabbed without trimming the edges). It lasted until about 2008 when it needed to be replaced due to rot. I managed to find a saw mill that would slab it up for me. Because it was wet, I needed to dry it. It takes about a year per inch to stand dry the wood. If you use a kiln, it cracks a lot…. I dried it by stacking it up, separating it using scrap wood, and putting it in a small shed with a small AC unit. Because the AC unit is small, its effective in removing the humidity from the shed and drying the wood. Being from Florida, humidity is a problem…..
Mike
