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I'll apologise now for this, as it's likely to be the first of many posts about the upcoming extension to BigG towers, but I'm relying on your sage advice and opinion.
We're settled on an overall design for the single storey extension and now need to decide on cladding. The house is a 1990's brick build so matching brick is likely to be impossible and I'm not a fan of concrete render (have you seen Cumbernauld?). So, architect suggests either - envirobuild or Hardie Planking both seem to come in a range of colours which is good, we're leaning towards a dark grey, but the products in themselves seem very different.
Does anyone have any experience of either? Good / bad points?
Once we've settled on cladding I'll be back to ask about bifold doors, kitchens and rooflights so please bear with me.
Can't help with enviroboard
But have you seen that hardieplank in the flesh the thought of looking at that for ever more is enough to consider harling it.
We ended up with cedar.
What type of bricks do you have that can't be matched?
An alternative is using a contrasting brick in a stack bond maybe?
Personally of i was looking at cladding I'd go timber over composite, especially on a single storey as it'll be easy to maintain.
Roof light, roof maker provided ours and I rate them highly.
Not familiar with those cladding boards, but if you consider timber cladding be aware of how their appearance changes over time. To me, cedar cladding is gopping once it turns to patchy grey......
Why can't you match your bricks? I manage it with all my extensions, I run a building firm BTW
Cement based cladding looks poor in appearance imo.
I'd go for render or a contrast brick. Contrast is good.
Surprised at your comments regarding render? Charles Rennie Mackintosh thought differently...
Both those cladding options look fake, cheap and quite gopping to be honest.
PS. Very impressed with you being able to put hyperlinks in words though.
ignore
Siberian Larch.
It starts off looking like pine, but then goes a silvery grey as it weathers. Supposed to last for yonks.
Neighbour has the grey hardy stuff. Looked ok to start with but then I noticed the windows were still white. I think it will become the next uPVC. I'd go for Larch
I kind of agree with above on the cement board or composite cladding. Find a bench made out of plastic decking in the local park that has been there more than one winter. That is what it will look like in a couple of years.
Wood looks good, burnt finish is trendy and the colours fade but not everyone's thing.
Ceramic tiles weather well, can be like roof tiles or glazed tiles.
Bricks are standard and last forever, may be a bit boring and may cost more to install.
Unpainted render does look like a dour forgotten housing estate in parts of Scotland (also other parts but parts of Scotland seems to specialise in this look) but painted or self coloured can look great.
Thanks for the opinions so far, some supplementary info that may help. The house is located in Central Scotland, brick has been well weathered over the years and therefore a direct match is going to be pretty challenging. To be honest I'm not looking to blend the extension in, or make it look like it's always been there so using different materials seems like a good option.
Larch - looks great at first but weathering to patchy intermittent grey whilst it may be attractive to some just isn't my thing.
I've ordered samples of both boards to see how they look and feel. Interested that you think they weather just as badly as larch
On the point of render, I agree that CRM was a fan and I'm a fan of his work and the arts & crafts movement. However his work has to be viewed in the context of the buildings around them. Given how wet, cold and damp the environment is around here I think that both Larch and render would quickly discolour and I'm really not up for repainting coloured render every few years.
Just wondering if you’ve had planning approval? We recently finished our two storey extension but our initial plans included cladding, a topic we spent lots of time discussing and thinking about. Our local planning officers refused to pass it with any form / design of cladding so we could have saved ourselves a lot of time. Hopefully you’ve either had planning approved or your planning officers are a little more rational.
Our builders were epic at matching the bricks, after several months it all looks like one original house.
You do realise you can roughcast in colours other than Wimpy White and Greenfaulds Grey? We have our extension done in a brown/buff mix to match the rest of the house, looks as good today as the day it was put on (about 5 years ago).
You could also look at Marley Cedral. We used this to tidy up our place by the sea and we're really pleased with it..... before and after:
Find a bench made out of plastic decking in the local park that has been there more than one winter. That is what it will look like in a couple of years.
Needless to say this is rubbish - our cladding has been on for 3 years and looks exactly the same.
You really can't compare wall cladding with a something that is continually walked/sat on - plus they are different materials!
If we get bored of ours we can repaint it or take it down and do something else.
The one caveat I'd add is that cladding may look out of place in the wrong environment - but our place is an a Welsh village where quite a few of places have been clad [in either wood or composite] and it looks great compared to boring white render or bloody pebbledash.
Larch – looks great at first but weathering to patchy intermittent grey whilst it may be attractive to some just isn’t my thing.
My thoughts entirely regarding wood. Looks nice when new but you don't really know how it's going to weather as it depends on a number of factors (climate, aspect, environment and shading all added to the fact that natural products can behave differently as they get older).
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0zK4-9zQxh_wN0LFbhK8QcSMA#Dumfriesshire
Cedral cladding. Not everyone’s cup of tea but turned out well.
Depending on the bricks in your original house they can either be easy to match, or impossible - lots of brickworks have shut since the 90’s and there just aren’t good alternatives on the market. And as you say weathering of the original bricks will make a difference. I work for one of the large UK brick manufacturers so deal with these sort of questions everyday.
If it was me I would go with a contrasting brick for the extension. Depending on the style of the extension a dark grey brick often works well on a single storey extension where there is a red or yellow brick on the original building. Depending on the scale of the extension different brick size formats can also work well, for example using a 440x65mm brick creates a very different looking facade, but retains the bricks aesthetic.
Lots of option, and personally I think it is worth spending the extra on these exterior materials. The outside of the building won’t be changed, yet internal fixture and fittings will be replaced over the life of the building.
You can also use mortar colour to change the appearance of the masonry. Generally a near match looks much worse than a contrast, even considering the fact that something that time will tend to dampen down differences.
I like the CP board (not siding) aesthetic, but it does need really careful detailing to make it work well.