Natural and Sustainable, wood is a cladding material that is simple to use and easy to find – it does after all, grow on trees after all!!
Timber is diverse in type, and many different effects can be achieved by varying the species of tree, type of board and finish. Wood can look natural enough to blend with surrounding trees, or create an off-the-wall facade with bright colours and fantastic shapes and patterns.
Wood Type
- Many types of wood are suitable for internal cladding. Hardwoods like oak, sweet chestnut and iroko are the most expensive. Then come mid-priced durable softwoods like cedar, fir or larch, though the current popularity of western red cedar has driven up price even higher than that of oak in some cases. When correctly treated, you can even use cheap softwoods like pine or spruce.
Cladding Type
- Boards can be worked vertically, horizontally, diagonally and be jointed in numerous ways. The width can be varied to create large expanses of wood or get a stripe effect with narrow profiles. Complexity of design and width of timber profile will always be significant factor in terms of the cladding cost. As a general rule, complexity of design and small widths of timber increase labour installation costs. Large widths of timber can increase cost due to availability / size of trees available for procurement.
Fixing / Installation
- Timber cladding can simply be fixed in position on timber battens which have been lined and leveled using timber or plastic packers.
- Wood will always change dimension slightly due to temperature and humidity. Shrinkage is always a possibility after installation as the material may continue to dry out as it becomes accustomed to its new indoor environment. Cladding design and installation may need to take account of this by using method such tongue and groove joints or feature gaps between boards;
- Cladding should be installed at typical moisture levels (12% +/- 2% at the time of manufacture) to minimise movement;
- Boards can be pined or Screw fixed. Fixing holes can be disguised with appropriate fillers or timber pellets;
Finishes
- Hard & Softwoods can obviously be stained, lacquered / varnished to any shade you choose using a vast range of products. Certain products can be used to enhance the strength and scratch resistance of the wood surface such as polyurethane or similar polymer based products.
Hardwood
- Oak; Ash; Beech; Birch; Chestnut; Iroko; Maple.
Softwood
- Pine; Cedar; Spruce; Fir; Larch.