Cedar Cladding

On Sunday 01 December 2013 15:19 snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Western red is probably the one you want to ask for.

I chose that for my gutterboards (being something that gets wet, is difficult to paint effectively and a bastard to replace).

In message , Tim Watts writes

Also, if you intend to paint, do it before you fit the boards or do it again when they have shrunk!

On Sunday 01 December 2013 18:34 Tim Lamb wrote in uk.d-i-y:

And beware - cedar does something funky to its surface when it has weathered so you'll probably want to paint it (I used Sadolin Classic microporous) before that happens - withing a few months at least.

Tim's right - although Western Red Cedar is definitely the way to go, it doesn't always weather evenly. Mostly because of variations in moisture and UV hitting different areas. At Silva Timber we suggest using a finishing product like Tim suggested. I really recommend using Sansin - it comes in a huge number of different colour tones and has the good qualities of both oil & water based finishing.

With regards to the timber itself, there are three main industry standard "grades" you want to consider. I recently came up with a little table to easily distinguish the three:

I hope this helps. Clyde

You might find this freebie from the Scottish government useful, particularly from page 46 onwards, but the whole book is IMHO worth a read for an overview of proven design practice

There is another book, maybe from TRADA or from a US based organisation (possibly the APA?) that has lots of info but be buggered if I can remember its title, it was an official free download a few years back rather than something that needed to be purchased.

Thanks. V. useful replies.