proposed cedar cladding finish to extension

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speculative

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Was wondering if anyone has seen how a cedar cladding finish to an external (north facing or other) wall of house / extension wears over time ?

Following a quick search I saw one thread here that mentions:
"the timber weathers to silver (technically this process is called degrading, caused by UV) it can't be restored, unless you sand or plane back to bare timber. So the only way to maintain this appearance is to take preventative action by pretreating in the first instance"

Ive seen the results of the degradation mentioned above and it aint all that pretty to be honest. From initial design drawings theres a substantial area of cedar and my gut feeling is to dictate a less flashy pebble dash finish to match existing that will easier to maintain.

Any thoughts or experiences shared would be appreciated.
 
check out www.cedar-siding.com, this website gives you all the information on cedar products. you may want to consider a composite siding such as fiber cement siding by james hardie but if its the natural look you want cedar is the only choice. make sure you finish it right after its installed and try to avoid face nailing the product, sikkens make pro finishes for siding www.sikkens.com
 
We have on the north face of our house - looks great in my opinion. Builder & painter both advised that if treated every 5 years or so that it should retain it's lustre.
 
thanks for the information guys
From what Ive read it appears to be a case of ensuring the cedar is pretreated to protect against UV related bleaching and then to ensure it gets a coat of something to prevent moisture damage
 
We've used cedar cladding a lot and it's very popular with architects and specifiers. Cedar will weather, as will any timber with exposure to sun and rain. The problem with treating cedar or any timber is that once you start you must maintain the treatment over the life of the product. Any coating or "paint" is really only a surface treatment and unless this is carefully maintained, through regular re-application, it will look poor as it weathers.
 
Carpenter said:
We've used cedar cladding a lot and it's very popular with architects and specifiers. Cedar will weather, as will any timber with exposure to sun and rain. The problem with treating cedar or any timber is that once you start you must maintain the treatment over the life of the product. Any coating or "paint" is really only a surface treatment and unless this is carefully maintained, through regular re-application, it will look poor as it weathers.
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I take your point since it was originally my the reason I posted. All treatments arent permanent especially when it comes to wood thats exposed to the elements 12 months of the year.
If the cedar to be used is pre treated and its possible to say that coating it every 12-18 months gives it a shot at maintaining the natural colour then Im relatively happy to go with it. Ill ping my architect to check his reasoning about using it to see if theres some thoughts or experiences he's had with clients using the stuff. The supplier in Kilcoole might offer me some free advice that Ill have to water down since they supply the stuff as well.

Thanks for taking the time
 
I went with Cedar Facia and to be totally hones I'm disappointed. I treaded it initially with Textral. It looks dirty and dull. Everybody has a different opinion on how to treat. Grand Designs had a show lately whare a guy treated his with linseed oil. Don't get me wrong it looks fab initially. There is a development of a ppartments in Cork that looked very well initially but I pass there lately and to be honest I think it looks awful. I was also told to leave it weather initially for a year min.
 
I've done some online research into cedar wood cladding, it's treatment, cleaning etc, for an older project of ours; the bottom line is that ANY coating is a surface treatment and will degrade over time, just like the untreated timber surface. Each successive coating will gradually obliterate the grain and look of the original timber substrate, and as each coat degrades you must re-coat and the cycle continues. Regardless of what coatings manufacturers tell you there is no magic solution- you cannot seal in the natural wood look indefinitely! The only product that was worth looking at was a special "restorer" which could be used to wash down and rejuvenate cladding, this did work but again only for a short time, it was primarily a strong cleaner and nothing else. Boiled linseed oil is great for sealing end grain (to prevent "wicking" but it does break down with exposure to UV and it looks quite bad what that happens.
 
mill glaze on the cladding is also a major problem with problem, most finishes are just sitting on top of the wood without penetrating.
 
chum said:
mill glaze on the cladding is also a major problem with problem, most finishes are just sitting on top of the wood without penetrating.
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Most finishes will not penetrate the wood to any great degree. That and non stainless fixings are just two of the common problems with cladding. Cedar cladding can be variable in quality- cups and shakes are inevitable.
 
In my case I purposely used cedar as part of a my effort to achieve a maintenance free exterior. The natural weathering of cedar to it's silvery state actually appealed to me.
Any treatment of cedar is only surface based as has been pointed out already, and needs to be redone at intervals. The natural oils in cedar contribute to the effect of any treatment only being surface based. These oils also give cedar it's high resistance to moisture and generally a long life even untreated.
In my opinion it's a natural product and it's own natural finish works for me.

AndyH
 
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Try aluminium cladding...dearer but it can be powder coated to any colour in gloss, satin, matt, metallics etc.
Its also enviro friendly and low maintenance.
 
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