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got some building work going on .
Drawings call for wood cladding to cover 100mm external insulation on the original building and then carrying onto the very limited parts of the new building that are solid wall. (will be clad over standard wood kit/block work construction as part of the remit of the architect was to break up the mass of brown harling that was out L shaped rear profile to the house and update the insulative properties of the windward aspect of the house
The question is my builders hit me with three options..... Larch or Cedar Vertical overlap.
OR pine T+G.
I think pine T+G is for a garden shed or a sauna..... so its down to Cedar or Larch
Which would/do you have and why?
Western Red Cedar.
It looks better as it ages and weathers.
Pine looks cheap and Larch looks grubby.
It's all subjective though....eye of the beholder and all that.
Whichever had the longest lifespan per £ cost (including installation / reinstaltion cost and maintenance).
I'd also want a nice large soffit to offer a bit of protection but that's just me. I'm obsessed with having a good soffit on a roof! None in of this modern malarkey with roofwallnosoffit!
None in of this modern malarkey with roofwallnosoffit!
My house is 124 years old.
Roof, wall, no soffit.
All the other victorian houses in the street which are all different to each other?
Roof, wall, no soffit.
There's a nice big soffit sure. It's being mirrored off the existing building for continuity.....although not in asbestos board.
Pine I believe was suggested as quick and easy for the builder to put up......but one pine claddings a 10-15 year life span one of sheds assuming you treat it well.....
I'm hoping to let the weather age what ever goes up.... Sounds like the red cedar fits that bill-probably with a nice tasty bill from my builder for supply and fit.... There's not masses of direct sunlight if that makes a difference. It gets sun first thing and last thing but it's north /north east facing.
Cedar will attract the "ladies" was it not used as an aftershave years ago when shirts were open to the navel and they smoked Marlboro
Probably all died now of lc
All the other victorian houses in the street which are all different to each other?
Sorry I don't get the question, or have I miss-interpreted (as is always happening in internet land)?
There’s not masses of direct sunlight if that makes a difference. It gets sun first thing and last thing but it’s north /north east facing.
Good question. I always think wood decay is fungi based so the important thing is airflow to allow the wood to not stay in that ideal damp and warm conditions that fungi like, but maybe there are some wood eating fungi that like different conditions.
What about HardiePlank or Accoya as 2 other alternatives?
Been contemplating this recently and after a fair bit of research settled on the Vastern Brimstone range: https://www.vastern.co.uk/cladding/brimstone-ash/
UK grown (lots of carbon emissions if you get something imported) and very durable with the thermal treatment.
Cedar very rot resistant. Dont ever paint it though
nope im aware of not painting cedar - or larch for that matter
Does seem that local larch is easy to come by......but then British cedar isn't all that much more than imported Canadian....
All advice I've read (which may be bollocks) is that timber grown in your local climate stands up better to your local climate when used in a cladding situation - and weathers more uniformly - now that may be due to the lack of variation in our climate ..... Canada has a widely varied climate and so i guess your wood can (like paint) come from different locations(batches) ......
Looked up Accoya - not keen on that . i know its wood - but it has it appearance of some form of plastic - and they say it needs clear coated ... im not up for that. .
and I'm not having hardieplank. might as well just paint the harling regardless of the "texture" its still concrete.
Don't have an airflow issue ....I'm on top of a hill with a wind that would fear you in the winter - but that also means windblown rain which is why i cant have cavity wall insulation.
We fit a lot of larch/cedar timber cladding & would offer the following;
Go for whichever you prefer the look of once its weathered. If you start with some kind of treatment, its a future maintenance issue which is a pita plus treatments alter the initial look of the wood, UV treated Cedar looks a bit naff in my eyes.
Cedar is usually 30% more expensive than larch.
Make sure your builder gets the detailing right. I see poorly detailed timber clad buildings all the time with terrible water staining around openings & at the top & bottom of the wall.
Also, a large soffit will offer protection, but also will mean that the bit underneath that doesn't get the sun won't age in the same way as the lower parts.
Both larch and cedar are good as they are. Larch is generally a lot more available, think there are still some phytophthora restrictions on it which make it harder for smaller sawmills to deal with, but if you can find one that can, or has clean stock, you can spec board width and thickness. Less to be attached and reduced splitting.
This is our old single skin utility clad in 15-18" boards.
Or here
We made some fencing from cedar for the front of our home. I like the way it silvers and that it doesn't need any treatment.
There are variances in the colour change we've experienced due to shading. The section across the front silvered very quickly on the street face which gets plenty of direct sun but much slower on the side we see that gets little/no direct sun.
Make sure they use stainless fixings if you go cedar. You get black marks very quickly from non stainless steel fixings.