Cladding help

[Selfbuildsarah]

Any advice re how to move forward on cladding choice please. We are so unsure about choosing the cladding for our new build and I just don't know how to hone in on what's best for us and our design. Read loads. Searched Pintrest lots! Have 3 build magazine subs!! Still no further forward. I know a couple of things I don't want, which is a start I suppose. I would like timber that stays the colour it is at the start. Really don't like when it ages and goes silvery. I guess that means we need something woodstained? I know what colour I prefer - not keen on the orangey pine shades, more darkish, golden brown. I realise there are some realistic faux woods but also some horrible ones which look very plastic like. Do we need to visit timber works? What is the best way to tackle this? It's such a huge part of the overall look of the house I'm frightened of getting it wrong.

[Russdl]

Have you looked at wood plastic composite cladding (WPC)? It’s reassuringly expensive but won’t change colour apart from fading a bit over the years. We’ve used the dark grey which has moved a bit in this recent heat on the eastern elevation, aside from that we’re very happy with it. 
 

Here’s a screen grab from the envirobuild website, other WPC is available. 

 

[Modernista]

 I know exactly how you feel, we were the same.

 

Here's our Abodo (heat treated Radiata Pine), stained sand colour and possibly closer to the darkish golden brown you are seeking? 

[Kelvin]

It’s not easy. We went round in circles. timber type, coated or uncoated, vertical or horizontal, profile, rainscreen or not etc. You need visit some of the timber yards to have a look in my opinion.
 

I really liked the Abodo cladding Glenalmond sell in the patina coating. You can treat it to start out at different colours but will need redoing to maintain the colour every few years. If you want it to maintain the colour Russwood do Accoya that is painted at the factory. Although if you did that you might as well go down the plastic route as the painted Accoya doesn’t look like wood plus it can and will chip based on their examples. It would be nice as a feature on part of a build but not the whole building. There’s also the thermally treated stuff which can be very dark and the ‘burnt’ cladding is black. Looks stunning on the right building. 

 

What we eventually did was:

 

1. Agree on our max budget

2. Write down what we definitely didn’t want

3.  Go visit some timber yards to look at the various options and especially profiles and get samples 

4. Decide if we wanted vertical or horizontal cladding as certain profiles only work in one orientation 

5. Go look at some timber clad buildings

6. Get quotes for some of the different options you like especially the expensive stuff as that might rule certain things out

7. Take all that info and see if that really narrows it down for you. In our case it made our decision for us. Which is Scottish Larch treated with Sioo:X to accelerate the silvering process as most wood ends up silver anyway unless you keep up with the maintenance. Vertically clad in board on board profile A.  

 

Ultimately though this will be driven by budget unless money isn’t a barrier of course. Have you had any quotes yet?

Edited August 10, 2022 by Kelvin

[JohnMo]

You need to look at the options in person, what looks great in photo, may not really be that great on your project when you look at it or possibly see the price.

 

We did the round and round in circles.  In the end went to local saw mill, they showed us a few samples and we just plumped for one, by this time the wife had lost the will to live.

 

We went with vertical Scottish larch grown just down the road.

[Adrian Walker]

Have you thought about Bamboo cladding, like https://www.moso-bamboo.com/ ?  They have an agent in the UK (www.gripsure.co.uk) and it's sustainable if that's an important issue?

[ETC]

Slate?
 

[Kelvin]

2 hours ago, Adrian Walker said:

Have you thought about Bamboo cladding, like https://www.moso-bamboo.com/ ?  They have an agent in the UK (www.gripsure.co.uk) and it's sustainable if that's an important issue?

Do you have any direct experience of the product and Gripsure? 

[ETC]

Burnt larch?

[Adrian Walker]

10 hours ago, Kelvin said:

Do you have any direct experience of the product and Gripsure? 

 

I was looking for a sustainable cladding product and a self-build friend in Fleet suggested Bamboo from Moso.  I have samples, which are nice, and a price which is good. Not placed an order yet.  I have spoken to Gripsure a couple of times and they have answered all my questions.

[Thorfun]

10 hours ago, ETC said:

Burnt larch?

 

our burnt larch and non-burnt larch combo.

 

 

 

we're letting our standard larch age naturally so it will go silver with the OP doesn't want but it can be treated to stay the same colour. in the second photo the larch nearest the camera has just been put up and the larch furthest away was done a couple of months ago so you can see that it's already started to change colour.

 

we didn't want any ongoing maintenance with our cladding so decided to go for the weathered look.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Thorfun

[Selfbuildsarah]

Oh, thanks so much for all this advice. So helpful.

There are so many different looks to consider and I'm now even questioning the horizontal cladding in our design. I really like the vertical look. We are having grey/slate roof and chalk white render with the cladding which is one of the reasons I don't want to end up with the silvery aged look. I think it might look a bit scruffy.

Loved JohnMo's comment about his wife losing the will to live. That will be my husband before too long!

[Selfbuildsarah]

11 hours ago, ETC said:

Slate?
 

I don't think this look will sit right on the plot due to the location. Striking look though. We are currently going for slate roof, chalk white render and a traditional wood cladding as the house will be fitting in to a country setting.

[Adrian Walker]

1 hour ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

Oh, thanks so much for all this advice. So helpful.

There are so many different looks to consider and I'm now even questioning the horizontal cladding in our design. I really like the vertical look. We are having grey/slate roof and chalk white render with the cladding which is one of the reasons I don't want to end up with the silvery aged look. I think it might look a bit scruffy.

Loved JohnMo's comment about his wife losing the will to live. That will be my husband before too long!

I like vertical cladding but sometimes this will require double batterning or spacers. 

[ETC]

I think you’ll have to accept that in this climate the wood cladding will turn a different colour over time. I don’t think plastic alternatives would look right.

[Kelvin]

3 hours ago, Adrian Walker said:

 

I was looking for a sustainable cladding product and a self-build friend in Fleet suggested Bamboo from Moso.  I have samples, which are nice, and a price which is good. Not placed an order yet.  I have spoken to Gripsure a couple of times and they have answered all my questions.

Ta. Just called them. They are going to send me a sample and do me a quote. They haven’t sold any cladding in the UK yet so one of us might be first 😂 

[Thorfun]

27 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Ta. Just called them. They are going to send me a sample and do me a quote. They haven’t sold any cladding in the UK yet so one of us might be first 😂 

when you're investigating bamboo for external use check with your chippie as ours said he'd fitted it before and it was really soft and warped/twisted easily.

 

[Kelvin]

27 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

when you're investigating bamboo for external use check with your chippie as ours said he'd fitted it before and it was really soft and warped/twisted easily.

 

 

I just read their brochure. I assume the Moso bamboo is different from the stuff your chippie is talking about. According to the Moso brochure the bamboo planks are produced using a thermal modification process and then compressed with a binding glue into planks. They claim a durability class 1 and state it’s harder than most hardwoods. 
 

The Gripsure company use it for their decking but have only become a cladding agent in the last few weeks. Edinburgh zoo uses their decking in some of the animal enclosures so I’ve unwittingly walked on it. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Kelvin

[Thorfun]

2 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

 

I just read their brochure. I assume the Moso bamboo is different from the stuff your chippie is talking about. According to the Moso brochure the bamboo planks are produced using a thermal modification process and then compressed with a binding glue into a planks. They claim a durability class 1 and state it’s harder than most hardwoods. 
 

The Gripsure company use it for their decking but have only become a cladding agent in the last few weeks. Edinburgh zoo uses their decking in some of the animal enclosures so I’ve unwittingly walked on it. 

that sounds very promising indeed and good research! 🙂 

 

[Adrian Walker]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

 

I just read their brochure. I assume the Moso bamboo is different from the stuff your chippie is talking about. According to the Moso brochure the bamboo planks are produced using a thermal modification process and then compressed with a binding glue into planks. They claim a durability class 1 and state it’s harder than most hardwoods. 
 

The Gripsure company use it for their decking but have only become a cladding agent in the last few weeks. Edinburgh zoo uses their decking in some of the animal enclosures so I’ve unwittingly walked on it. 

Yes, it's nothing like Bamboo flooring at all.  Moso forward my enquiry to Gripsure. It's very hard and solid. If you're interested they will send you a sample.

 

 

[Kelvin]

Sample will be here by Saturday. 

[Simplysimon]

10 hours ago, Selfbuildsarah said:

I don't think this look will sit right on the plot due to the location. Striking look though. We are currently going for slate roof, chalk white render and a traditional wood cladding as the house will be fitting in to a country setting.

similar to us, original idea was for larch cladding, however, i will not be doing any maintenance around the property hence no soffits, fascias and self coloured render. my wife didn't want the cladding to silver and tere was no way i was going to the cost and time to coat it every few years. after looking at loads of different makes and material types of cladding we eventually decided on fibre cement cladding. again there were loads of different styles and colours.

it's not an easy task and one you are going to have to live with.

[Selfbuildsarah]

11 hours ago, Simplysimon said:

similar to us, original idea was for larch cladding, however, i will not be doing any maintenance around the property hence no soffits, fascias and self coloured render. my wife didn't want the cladding to silver and tere was no way i was going to the cost and time to coat it every few years. after looking at loads of different makes and material types of cladding we eventually decided on fibre cement cladding. again there were loads of different styles and colours.

it's not an easy task and one you are going to have to live with.

Thanks for this. Have sent for a sample. 

[Kelvin]

Sample took a while to arrive. It’s very dark and very heavy (2.7 times heavier) compared to a similarly sized sample of Abodo I have. It’s also quite dear at £18,000 ex VAT for 208m2 which includes screws and fasteners but not battens which is £1000 dearer than the Abodo. It’s also very hard so I suspect quite an effort to install. 
 

I’m not convinced by the look although it could look stunning because it’s so uniform. I want wood to look like wood though. 

 

[Russdl]

Horses for courses but I think that looks great!