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We have a 1980s house with wood detailing on (this sort of style)
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But ours is beginning to rot away so rather than repainting/repairing it, I want to replace entirely. I fancied rendering the top half of the house but my wife isn't keen so has anyone got any recommendations on wood types that require little or no maintenance (such as red cedar) or man made materials (although I am wary of using these as I don't want the panels littered with those ugly screw caps.
Cheers
I would go for vertically clad in cedar.
looks nice IMO
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My mate has had the top half of his house clad in cedar. Coupled with grey alu framed double glazing it looks pretty nice.
But it suits the style of house that he has applied it to.
There are some houses near us where they have applied the same technique and it just looks wrong because the house is the wrong style, so it just looks wrong - EDIT - perhaps a few too many uses of the word 'wrong' in that sentence!
If you go down the cedar route, just beware of what it actually looks like when in place. It's quite a bright wood & really stands out.
Cedar is your best bet for external cladding if you want to go with timber.
There is a scheme where you can make a donation to Shelter and an Architect will come and see you for an hour. Win win? I can't find anything recent online, but friends have just this month used the scheme. Perhaps a call to Shelter to see if they've an Architect signed up near you?
Swedish house
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Swedish House Mafia
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If you go down the cedar route, just beware of what it actually looks like when in place. It's quite a bright wood & really stands out.
It starts off like that, but will silver like all other wood. It's possible to slow the silvering by applying a treatment.
The extension we're building this year will be clad in vertical cedar boards (with grey alu windows, natch). There have been lengthy discussions over treating and not treating. I favour not. Let it weather..!
Is this Western Red Cedar that people are talking about?
Larch, it's full of natural tanins and looks great as it ages from orange to silver.
Larch smells like pencils 🙂
we used cladding from Travis Perkins called Thermowood. Used stain from Sikkens and the wood has a 30year above ground gaurantee. Left to fade naturally it would turn grey.
Is this Western Red Cedar that people are talking about?
Yes.
Larch smells like pencils
[url= https://blackwing602.com/ ]Depends what pencils you use.[/url]
Just rip it all off and see how it looks....
If you are in an estate of similar looking housing then it might look odd if you do anything different.
There is a scheme where you can make a donation to Shelter and an Architect
I think that might have run its course - the site for [url= http://www.architectinthehouse.org.uk ]www.architectinthehouse.org.uk[/url],as its called, doesn't seem to be responding.
If you are in an estate of similar looking housing then it might look odd if you do anything different.
The development has a mix of no wood cladding / wood cladding / wood cladding with render between panels (all designed that way from new).
ourmaninthenorth - MemberIt starts off like that, but will silver like all other wood. It's possible to slow the silvering by applying a treatment.
This is what I've heard, but how long does this process take?
They must have done it around 3 years ago & it still looks bloody bright....and not very grey.
cedar is great, but there's little clear old growth cedar left anymore unless you pay silly money.
new growth cedar doesn't have the same tannin content that old growth trees develop with age. Its often very knotty also.
An untreated green cedar fence panel will go to grey in a summer of UV exposure.
A treated board will be much slower, BUT you will still need to refinish every few years.
Japanese Larch, it has a high silica content, and is apparently a bastard to saw, but it weathers really well and goes a lovely silvery grey.
Grand Designs has featured a couple of homes that used it extensively, and it seems to be the ideal timber as there's quite a lot of it around.
Western Red Cedar and Larch are the usual go to as they have a natural weather resistance. Douglas Fir is also pretty durable, lot whiter so good if you plan to stain it as the former are pink-ish. Naturally, they all fade to a grey.
Hardwoods after that.
Also baked thermally modified timber.
Just cuts and lay-up to choose after that.
For a no maintenance timber, look at Accoya. Not sure how it weathers unpainted though. Me, I love Sibirian Larch. Hardier than faster growing European and a lovely grain.