Natural timber cladding for a barn??

jprandss

Hello!

I'd love some help, I have a fairly large barn to clad- about 12m by 6m, 5m high. It has ugly corrugated cladding (which is in fine condition). I just want to do an aesthetic job on it, with timber.

I am perfectly happy doing this myself and have costed featheredge cladding at about £1000. I would rather not use featheredge as it doesn't look great- the barn backs onto an oak woodland and manmade board could be an eyesore.

Years ago as a kid we had a treehouse in the garden that my dad clad with bark strips, bought cheap. He now cant remember the name of the strips, or where he got them from!

If anybody has an idea where the bark may come from, or any other decent ideas, I'm all ears. Id like local if possible, I'm just outside barnstaple, north devon.

teneighty

I like featheredge boards stained black for a nice rural look. As an alternative how about waney edge boards for that extra rustic look?

I don't know the name of the "bark strips" or whether they are commercially available but local saw mills would probably be able to supply timber boards with the bark on and probably cheap as it is a waste product when they square up the raw timber tree trunks. You would probably have to discuss with them which timber to use to get some durability and a good textured bark.

System

What you want is some scorched larch cladding

jprandss

Stained featheredge is a good idea, i had in mind to spray paint them with cider vinegar to make them age faster, they become silvery in colour. Any idea of the lifespan of featheredge cladding?

I looked into waney edge but the price about doubles.

Scorched larch looks great, I'll have to see if a local sawmill will supply it. I don't think ill find a price anywhere near the featheredge though.

An option is also scorching featheredge myself with a weed burner torch, although I'm hesitant of this one as I think the tannalising releases cyanide with burning.

Great ideas coming in.

Hintza

Look at Ducksback they have plenty of natural colours.

Up here (West coast of Scotland) you have to put something on the wood as it is just too wet otherwise.

nobulljusttruth

why not do it in stone, see ebay steel containers section.
eBay item number:331518748391 looks cool

leveller2911

Waney edged Elm is nice, very natural looking and will outlast most posters on here and its been used for centuries. You don't need to treat it at all, leave it to go a silvery grey...

Larch, heat treated or not is fine too but less character, another option is Western Red Cedar which again,does'nt neet any treating, will go a silvery grey and last for 50yrs.

Hintza

leveller2911 wrote: »

Waney edged Elm is nice, very natural looking and will outlast most posters on here and its been used for centuries. You don't need to treat it at all, leave it to go a silvery grey...

Larch, heat treated or not is fine too but less character, another option is Western Red Cedar which again,does'nt neet any treating, will go a silvery grey and last for 50yrs.

I think these are probably great down the east coast of the country. But do you really think they would survive in the wet west?

I agree they look fabulous, but I think I would be too scared to try them.

theonlywayisup

We removed our wooden boarding from various aspects of one of our barns and it has been slated. Apart from the aesthetics (it is so much nicer to look at) there is little maintenance now.

leveller2911

Hintza wrote: »

I think these are probably great down the east coast of the country. But do you really think they would survive in the wet west?

I agree they look fabulous, but I think I would be too scared to try them.

No problem at all on the durability front. With both species you need to use the correct type of fixing so with Western Red Cedar its best to use copper fixing but you could use galvanised. WRC is used all across North America including Alaska and across Canada too.

With Elm its best to use stainless steel nails due to the acid in the timber, galvanised is an option but they will rot away over time.Nothing worse than "nail sick" cladding. With any cladding you need to fit a breathable membrame underneath.

You don't need to treat Western Red Cedar or Elm as both have a high oil content which makes them naturally durable. In the case of Cedar it can happily be saturated in water and is dimensionally very stable so it won't expand/contract and cause problems. We use it for making Victorian Glasshouses but its also great for cladding and when its delivered to the workshop is full of water, looks like they floated it down the river but within a day or so the water evaporates and is very light in weight. The cell structure is unique as just about all other timbers will expand/contract with the changes in moisture content.

Both WRC and Elm will naturally go a silvery grey over time.