Exterior timber cladding

How to choose exterior cladding

The right exterior cladding comes down to three things: the look you want, how durable it needs to be, and your budget. Here's how our timbers compare across all three.

By look

Western Red Cedar gives a warm, honey-brown tone that silvers gracefully to a soft grey if left untreated. Larch is paler and more uniform, weathering to a silvery finish prized on contemporary builds. Black Barn offers a dramatic charred-black look, factory-finished and ready to fix. Douglas fir brings character and larger board sizes, while thermally modified timbers sit in a rich, even brown. If you want to hold the original colour rather than let it silver, plan to oil it (see Fixing & finishing).

By durability & maintenance

All of our exterior cladding timbers are chosen to perform outdoors. Western Red Cedar is naturally durable and rot-resistant, lasting decades untreated. Far Eastern hardwood is the most durable option, dense and hard-wearing. Thermally modified boards are heat-treated (no chemicals) for improved stability and durability, a strong choice if movement and cupping are a concern. Larch is dense and durable and a popular all-rounder, while Douglas fir is moderately durable and benefits from a protective finish. Left untreated, durable timbers silver naturally and need very little maintenance; treated, they keep their colour with an occasional re-coat.

By budget

Price depends as much on profile, width and grade as on species, larch and thermally modified boards are generally the most affordable, with Western Red Cedar and Far Eastern hardwood at the premium end. See each range above for live pricing

Cladding profiles explained

• - Shiplap — boards overlap via a rebate, creating a subtle shadow line and shedding water well. The most popular contemporary choice.
• - Tongue & groove — boards interlock for a tight, flat, continuous face with no gaps. Clean and modern.
• - Feather edge — traditional tapered boards that overlap, giving a classic, rustic, agricultural look.
• - Board-on-board — boards fixed over the gaps between lower boards, for a deep, dimensional, shadowed finish.
• - Channel (channel groove) — boards spaced with a recessed shadow gap between them, for a sharp, modern shadow-line effect.

Profiles can be fixed horizontally or vertically — vertical needs battening behind to drain, and changes the look considerably.

Fixing & finishing

Fixings: always use stainless steel with timber cladding, and it's essential with Western Red Cedar, whose natural tannins corrode ordinary steel and cause black staining. We supply matched stainless steel cladding nails and stainless facade screws for every board we sell.

Finishing: durable timbers don't need treating to survive, left alone they weather to silver-grey. Treat only if you want to keep the original colour: a UV-protection oil such as Osmo UV-Protection Oil holds the tone, with Owatrol products for restoration and pre-treatment. One coat on installation and an occasional refresh is all most claddings need.