Cladding recommendations?

[gareth h]

I’ve got a small section of cladding on an extension which is being built, the builders have given me a sample of a composite product, which I’m not too keen on, am considering charred timber, but the house is pretty exposed to the elements, any recommendations?

What I’ve been offered



This is the clad section, the rear of the house is / will be rendered and painted white.

[thebraketester]

Cedar seems to be the trend over the last few years. Or hardiboard

[dhdev]

Millboard is very realistic, we used it on our renovation and I’ve lost count of the number of people who thought it was real wood.

[barryrs]

Thermowood.

Mine has been up for 7 years, has never been treated with any products, and hasn’t moved even 1mm.

[mcelliott]

We are going to for Accoya on our house build.

[LooneyTunes]

The main thing to decide is how you want it to age: the likes of oak and cedar will silver if left natural and untreated. UV treating them isn’t difficult but if you don’t stay on top of it you won’t get back to the original colour. I suspect that part of the reason for proposing a composite is that the colour is then locked in (as it is on the render).

One advantage you have with where the cladding is being placed is that it’s not going to be viewed close up. It’d be worth seeing if there is another build you can go and see, with a larger expanse of the composite, before dismissing it completely. Might well look much better than a small sample close up.

[gangzoom]

We got a composite cladding on the house, we considered wood but the composite stuff these days are really good. It's got a nice texture, and requires zero maintenance, 18 months on and still looks 'as new'. For us the contrast against white render also works really well.