When starting to plan cladding work it’s good to research the various options, cost and what each product looks like. Then you can plan which option fits your needs. Here we write about some of the factors you may want to consider when making your choice and what cladding options are available through Calon Yn Tyfu/ Growing Heart Workers Cooperative.
Consider how these factors affect your cladding need:
- Weather proofing: The first thing to check is do you need your space to be weather proofed – for some outbuilding, such as cattle sheds require having some air flow but if it’s your home then it’s essential to get solid coverage to keep out the elements.
- Aesthetics and value of your structure: essentially do you care how beautiful it looks or are you just needing something functional that works?
- Detailing: How will features of your build work with your cladding choice for example how will it look around the windows and doors and have you got enough overhang of ledges and soffits etc. More information on that from an architects view can be found here.
Types of cladding
(image of Ty Solar project in Boncath using heartwood larch feather edge boards)
Feather edge
For anyone cladding high value projects such as covering your home a popular option is feather edge boards (sometimes called weather boarding). These are wedge shape boards that overlap horizontally – usually with an overlap of 25-40mm. The boards we cut are typically 10mm -20mm thickness and 150mm width. We can also work with other custom measurement as needed.
(thanks to Richard Kleinjans for this image of the shed he created with our waney edge boards)
Waney edge
For a rustic looking product waney edge boards are perfect – these have the bark and variable width running along one side. Waney edge can be useful for projects that require a bit more flexibility, as the variable width can be handy to work around different aspects of the build. Our ‘seconds waney edge boards’ are derived from the first proper cut into the log and have two live edges and more sap wood – these are ideal for low value projects or if you intend to paint or treat the boards. Waney edge seconds boards are the most economical cladding option but are only available when in stock.
(photo of Brynberian hall using our vertical cladding boards)
Vertical boarding options (Castle boarding/ reverse castle boarding/ Yorkshire boarding)
There is a variety of options with vertical boarding, including widths of the boards and depths of the boards. Most commonly 150mm wide x 25mm depth boards with a gap is used. The gap if 100mm can be covered with another 150mm board or a narrower gap of 25mm with a smaller 75mm overlapping board. Leaving the gap open is called Yorkshire boarding, which is traditional for cattle sheds. Some carpenters prefer working with vertical cladding as they find it easier to install and it gives a distinctive design that follows the ways the wood would have been originally prior to the tree being felled.
Straight edge
Lastly there is always the option to work with straight edge boards – exactly what it says on the tin even boards with no live edge. These can be worked horizontally or vertically to get different effects often used in overlapping as in vertical castle boarding.
Check out our blogs about different woods and the difference between heartwood and sap wood here
Work out how much your cladding project will cost using our timber calculator here.
Still got a question email us here.