Timber Cladding Maintenance – Tips and Advice

Timber cladding is becoming more and more popular in building design and modern architecture. There are many different variations of wood cladding that each hold their characteristics, ageing style and maintenance requirements.

Like all wood, being exposed to the weather for long periods will affect the timber and eventually, without treatment, could potentially decay it. Different timber products are naturally more resilient to this effect than others.

Hardwoods tend to be more resilient, Western Red Cedar although a softwood, carries the traits of hardwood with its durability to decay, although may need treatment to maintain an element of colour, for example, our NORclad Brunnea preservative which contains a pigment – the other route to look at for colour is a Painted option.

We have put together a checklist to help you when deciding what timber cladding to use, and where to position it to maintain the cladding.

All timber cladding will require some kind of maintenance over time, this can be as simple as keeping it clean or after some time it may need re-treating or coating.

Things to look out for when putting timber cladding on your building:

Inconsistent weathering / UV exposure

UV exposure in different areas on timber cladding can cause inconsistent weathering. When the cladding is on multiple sides of a building, one side of the building will likely experience more weathering due to it receiving different levels of sunlight, wind and rain. There is very little that you can do to control this, however, be aware that over time the appearance will be different.

Mould and Algae

Mould and algae can appear on timber cladding in areas of high moisture content. This can also be caused due to fungus and insects making contact with the exposed timber cladding. This is often a problem for timber cladding that does not get exposed to direct sunlight and is under constant shading. Regularly cleaning the timber can reduce the spread of Mould and Algae.

Change in shape

All Timber cladding supplied by NORclad is made from natural wood. Wood will expand and contract with absorbing water and drying out. This is a natural process that cannot really be avoided, but should always be taken into account when planning to position for timber cladding and during the installation. A professional timber cladding installer will allow for this when installing the cladding.

What can you do to protect your cladding?

Treatments

Timber cladding can be pre-treated against mould and decay, we can offer either NORclad Brunnea or NORclad Lite, both preservative treatments that offer a 30-year warranty against rot and fungal decay. You can also apply additional treatments to timber cladding to provide additional protection from the signs of weathering.

Clean using a pressure washer

Pressure washers are a great way to clean your timber cladding, so long as they have not been coated, or treated with a preservative as the pressure washer will damage the surface. You should always test a corner of the cladding to make sure that you are not going to actually damage the timber. If the pressure is too high then reduce it to prevent any damage being done to the timber cladding. Pressure washers are a fantastic way to clean timber cladding because the time spent cleaning is dramatically reduced and the power of the pressure will remove any mould or alge growing on the outside surface.

Have a professional install the cladding

Fitting timber cladding is not as straightforward as it may initially seem. Making sure that you have the correct installation and fitting on the cladding will prolong the life span of the timber and protect your investment. A professional installer will be able to account for weathering and offer an allowance for the movement of the wood.

Talk to the experts

NORclad is a specialist manufacturing company with over 40 years of experience in the supply of a broad range of specialist timber product solutions.

NORclad supply a range of specially developed timber cladding and associated product solutions, with superb environmental credentials and insulation properties to protect buildings and façades from a whole host of varying climatic conditions.

We work closely with Architects, Designers, Specifiers, Contractors, Specialist Developers and individual Self Builders nationally and offer a professional, specialist technical information, support and quotation service to cover your needs.

Our raw material is sustainable, responsibly purchased FSC® certified (FSC® C007915) or PEFC certified (PEFC/16-37-1536) and our supply chain is secure.

All our products are produced in the U.K, we provide a wonderful contemporary set of solutions for finishing the façade or outside of any building from schools, hospitals and universities, to your own family home at a sensible and competitive price.

We are here to help you make the right decision and help you find out the best way to weatherproof and protect your timber cladding.