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Timber Cladding, Zinc Guttering, Brise Soleil and External blinds

Thorfun

Entry posted by Thorfun in External cladding

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Greetings on a miserably rainy Sunday October morning. Perfect weather for catching up on some blog writing!

 

As the title suggests this blog will be about our external coverings of the house and, by the end of it, the outside of the building will be pretty much finished allowing us to crack on internally.

 

We started many months ago by battening the outside of the buildings. As we are having external blinds and they have a requirement for fitting the blind cassette we needed a large gap between the house walls and the outside of the cladding. This meant 50mm x 50mm timber battens and counter battens.

 

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We did this ourselves and saved many thousands and, even though it was slow going (as, it seems, everything is when you do it yourself!), it was very satisfying with the carpenter saying that it was good work and he’d seen chippies do a lot worse jobs than we did. Nice warm fuzzy feeling ensued.

 

We are having a mixture of burnt Siberian larch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakisugi) and, to contrast the black, standard Siberian larch on the ‘arms’ of our property and entrance porch (all will be revealed in photos below) and I ordered all the cladding to be delivered on-site prior to the carpenter starting.

 

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The carpenter started on the garage using the standard Siberian larch which we bought from Jewson at a very reasonable price, and quite a bit cheaper than we could get from the usual timber cladding suppliers and we are very happy with the quality of the wood.

 

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He then went on to the black charred larch (which gets everywhere and he and his tools looked like they’d been in a coal mine by the end of each day!). We purchased the charred larch from Permachar (https://permachar.co.uk) who gave us a brilliant price. The wood itself was burnt and delivered from Lithuania (https://degmeda.eu) but they will only sell to the UK via Permachar. It is stunning wood, but incredibly fragile and any sort of dragging or scraping will cause the black char to flake off.

 

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While he was busy doing that and while the scaffolding was up I thought it a good time to get the guttering started. Our architect specified Zinc guttering and after a lot of thought and looking at stainless steel and zinc we also decided that zinc was the choice for us. We ordered it from Rainclear (https://www.rainclear.co.uk/guttering/copper-zinc-guttering/guttering-fittings.html?color=235) who offer next day delivery if in stock and were incredibly helpful and very well priced. It’s also a clip on system which even I managed to install without any major issues!

 

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Around the same time and while the carpenter was busy putting the cladding up our external blinds got fitted. We bought those from a local company called Powell blinds (https://powellblinds.com) who stepped in brilliantly at the last minute after we were seriously let down by Cornerstar Aluminium (long story which I won’t get in to here). The blinds are fitted up behind the cladding above the windows but externally so they will be hidden from view when lifted up. We absolutely love them and during the heatwave this summer we lowered them and this drastically reduced the temperature inside the house.

 

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There was still one large south facing window that didn’t have blinds that needed shading. We wanted and the architect designed a Brise Soleil in this area but all we had to go on was a 2D drawing. I contacted a few companies about getting one made and installed and the quotes came back at between £6k - £7k! A figure we simply could not afford. So I did research and spoke to a local forge called Horsham Forge (https://www.horshamforge.co.uk) with an idea I had. He said ‘that could be done but how about this instead?’. He suggested brackets with a pole running through them and vertical timbers slid on. Genius! On to Sketchup where I draw up the brackets and gave them to the forge to be created and spoke to my timber manager at Jewson who procured me some thermowood at the size I needed and got my carpenter to fit it and it cost me £1700 in total. So we saved around £5k by doing it ourselves and we also enjoyed the journey and got a solution that we designed (with the help of the forge of course). We think it looks fab and it does a good job of shading from the sun apart from a couple of hours when the sun is directly facing that side of the house. So we will still get some solar gain but it is definitely reduced and it’s a brilliant architectural feature. 😉

 

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Right, while all this was going on the chippie was finishing up the cladding and now that it is all finished and I have put the downpipes on we have an almost finished external facade to our dream home. We love it and think it’s stunning. So very happy with the carpenter’s work (http://www.kmlcarpentryandroofing.co.uk). Kieran’s attention to detail at the junctions between the 2 types of wood is fabulous as it is in other areas too. He would also discuss any issues and potential solutions with us to make sure we were happy with them rather than just doing something he thought was right. Hopefully the pictures below do it all justice!

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(Note: please ignore the 110mm brown downpipe in the below photo! It will eventually be a rain chain but this works for now. 😉 )

 

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Thanks for reading and we hope you like what we’ve achieved so far.

 

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26 Comments

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JohnMo

Good work.

 

But - Not keen on your prison window.  My wife would throw a wobbly if I even proposed doing that. Not that I would.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
ProDave

 

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Does that window stay like that?  or does the bottom bar lift up and get supported on stays?

 

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Thorfun
2 hours ago, ProDave said:

 

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Does that window stay like that?  or does the bottom bar lift up and get supported on stays?

 

Stays like that. It is possible to lift it up if we undo the brackets at the bottom but it’s really heavy so probably won’t ever be done. Will be fun cleaning the window though. 

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mike2016

Wow - that solar array - the house is something like out of grand deigns and the journey is certainly impressive to read! Well Done! 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Mr Blobby

Are they Hallmark Trojan blinds?

 

... and I quite like the prison window, a nice contrasting feature I think.

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Thorfun
3 minutes ago, Mr Blobby said:

 

Thank you very much @Thorfun for the link to Powell blinds.

 

We are about to order the Trojan AV90s from Powells that have Z shaped slats. 

Are you still happy with your blinds?

I take it there have been no issues.

 

sadly the house isn't finished yet so we haven't really used the blinds so i can't really comment. but i had to lower a couple yesterday to shade our new screed and they still worked. 😉

 

when you speak to Tim (Powell) tell him Tom from the golf club sent you his way. i won't get a kick back but he might buy me a drink after golf someday. 🤣

  • Haha 1
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CaptainRatty

Gorgeous cladding.

I am planning vertical cladding, mounted on horizontal counterbattens which are fixed to vertical battens, mounted direct to the timber frame; much as you have done.

 

The house is floor and a half high with rendered block outer wall rising to 1st storey floor height, clad above that.

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience on increasing the batten thickness in order to move the cladding out and so reduce the step between cladding and block.

 

I was wondering if I could use 2 off 50x75 as battens to achieve the rear of the cladding 150mm away from the frame.

 

Comments please?

 

 

 

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Alan Ambrose

Don’t see why not. Worth drawing out to make sure you have all the ventilation, vapour barrier, drainage, critter guard, drip edge etc details right. Does the increase work ok with your eaves detail?

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G and J
12 hours ago, CaptainRatty said:

Gorgeous cladding.

I am planning vertical cladding, mounted on horizontal counterbattens which are fixed to vertical battens, mounted direct to the timber frame; much as you have done.

 

The house is floor and a half high with rendered block outer wall rising to 1st storey floor height, clad above that.

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience on increasing the batten thickness in order to move the cladding out and so reduce the step between cladding and block.

 

I was wondering if I could use 2 off 50x75 as battens to achieve the rear of the cladding 150mm away from the frame.

 

Comments please?

 

 

 

We are planning to have rendered blockwork on the ground floor with vertical wood cladding upstairs (assuming we get our non material amendment approved).  The step issue was the same for us so are planning to step out the upstairs frame in places rather than build in voids.   @CaptainRatty Could you do that or is it too late?

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Thorfun
13 hours ago, CaptainRatty said:

Gorgeous cladding.

I am planning vertical cladding, mounted on horizontal counterbattens which are fixed to vertical battens, mounted direct to the timber frame; much as you have done.

 

The house is floor and a half high with rendered block outer wall rising to 1st storey floor height, clad above that.

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience on increasing the batten thickness in order to move the cladding out and so reduce the step between cladding and block.

 

I was wondering if I could use 2 off 50x75 as battens to achieve the rear of the cladding 150mm away from the frame.

 

Comments please?

 

 

 

thanks. 

 

have you considered the cost implications of using 50mm x 75mm battens? we used 50x50mm and they were a lot more expensive than standard 25x50mm. I wonder if working a nice detail between the bottom of the cladding and the block might look nice and save quite a bit of money to boot! just a thought.

Link to comment
Mr Punter
14 hours ago, CaptainRatty said:

Gorgeous cladding.

I am planning vertical cladding, mounted on horizontal counterbattens which are fixed to vertical battens, mounted direct to the timber frame; much as you have done.

 

The house is floor and a half high with rendered block outer wall rising to 1st storey floor height, clad above that.

 

I am trying to find out if anyone has any experience on increasing the batten thickness in order to move the cladding out and so reduce the step between cladding and block.

 

I was wondering if I could use 2 off 50x75 as battens to achieve the rear of the cladding 150mm away from the frame.

 

Comments please?

 

 

 

 

Timber frame, timber clad may be considered a risk by lenders and insurers.

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Bancroft
16 hours ago, CaptainRatty said:

I was wondering if I could use 2 off 50x75 as battens to achieve the rear of the cladding 150mm away from the frame.

Can I ask why you need the cladding 150mm off the frame?  Is it simply to align with the rendered section or is there another technical reason?

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CaptainRatty
On 06/09/2024 at 11:57, G and J said:

We are planning to have rendered blockwork on the ground floor with vertical wood cladding upstairs (assuming we get our non material amendment approved).  The step issue was the same for us so are planning to step out the upstairs frame in places rather than build in voids.   @CaptainRatty Could you do that or is it too late?

 

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CaptainRatty

Yes. Too late for us. I did suggest it to the architect and there was a good reason why not….cant remember what it was. 

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CaptainRatty
On 06/09/2024 at 09:39, Alan Ambrose said:

Don’t see why not. Worth drawing out to make sure you have all the ventilation, vapour barrier, drainage, critter guard, drip edge etc details right. Does the increase work ok with your eaves detail?

Plenty of eaves.

I was more concerned with structural stability having the battens on their edges.. probably I’ll run it past the structural engineer.

 

and I’ll do detailed drawings so all involved are clear what the plan is.

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CaptainRatty
On 06/09/2024 at 20:43, Alan Ambrose said:

Of course, you could add another 100mm of insulation and use the 25mm battens.

True.

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CaptainRatty
On 06/09/2024 at 13:11, Thorfun said:

thanks. 

 

have you considered the cost implications of using 50mm x 75mm battens? we used 50x50mm and they were a lot more expensive than standard 25x50mm. I wonder if working a nice detail between the bottom of the cladding and the block might look nice and save quite a bit of money to boot! just a thought.

An initial explore of cost indicates a plus 50% cost to the battens when you step up from 50*50.

I have not costed the battening to understand what that means in actual cost yet.

 

I have found an aluminium cill section that I will probably use as well. I have to do something to assist water to drain to the outside face of the block wall.

even if I did increase the batten size to allow the rear of the cladding to clear the wall, the horizontal battens should have a 15 degree chamfer that throws water into the cavity.

 

I have asked my BCO for his opinion but he didn’t want to get involved in design.

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CaptainRatty
On 06/09/2024 at 15:20, Bancroft said:

Can I ask why you need the cladding 150mm off the frame?  Is it simply to align with the rendered section or is there another technical reason?

Yes, simply aesthetics.

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Thorfun
5 minutes ago, CaptainRatty said:

the horizontal battens should have a 15 degree chamfer that throws water into the cavity.

i didn't bother with this. a real faff and extra cost that i didn't think was completely necessary! hardly any water will get through the cladding and whatever does should soon dry off. ymmv.

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