Cedar cladding suppliers

[efunc]

If You're on a budget British WRC is a good choice. You get all the qualities of Canadian cedar (high resin content, stability, etc) however it is much knottier, and blonder than the the Canadian variant. It isn't graded for this reason, but is much cheaper. I paid about £25 per sqm from www.ruby-group.co.uk

I put the cladding up over Christmas a couple of years ago. I then waited 6 months later and then applied two liberal coats of Osmo UV protect 420, Clear Satin. It was already starting to go grey and water stained around this time so I first had to treat it with a wood brightener to restore the natural colour before doing the Osmo. This transformed it and gave it a warmer tone and slight sheen that looks quite impressive. If budget wasn't a factor I would have paid 3 times the amount and bought a graded clear Canadian WRC which really does look stunning, but I can definitely live with what I've got, knots and all.

 

[23vc]

If You're on a budget British WRC is a good choice. You get all the qualities of Canadian cedar (high resin content, stability, etc) however it is much knottier, and blonder than the the Canadian variant. It isn't graded for this reason, but is much cheaper. I paid about £25 per sqm from www.ruby-group.co.uk

I put the cladding up over Christmas a couple of years ago. I then waited 6 months later and then applied two liberal coats of Osmo UV protect 420, Clear Satin. It was already starting to go grey and water stained around this time so I first had to treat it with a wood brightener to restore the natural colour before doing the Osmo. This transformed it and gave it a warmer tone and slight sheen that looks quite impressive. If budget wasn't a factor I would have paid 3 times the amount and bought a graded clear Canadian WRC which really does look stunning, but I can definitely live with what I've got, knots and all.

budget’s not my main driver, getting the treatment right to maintain the colour is. I do like the British cedar too tho, but mines not a massive area so gonna treat myself

 

[23vc]

Thanks for the replies everyone. So I’m going to give up on the idea of kiln dried and assume that anything I buy, unless it’s obviously really green, is going to be ok to use straight away. Might even get one of those wood moisture meters for a few quid. I may even look at pre-treating the parts that will be unreachable after installation, and do the recommended 12 week thing with the visible faces before UV treatment. I’ll have a think.

 

[Ian H]

Have you done it yet?

 

[23vc]

Have you done it yet?

Course I have, I don’t mess about. Dried it in the airing cupboard last night

 

[Mr Chibs]

If You're on a budget British WRC is a good choice. You get all the qualities of Canadian cedar (high resin content, stability, etc) however it is much knottier, and blonder than the the Canadian variant. It isn't graded for this reason, but is much cheaper. I paid about £25 per sqm from www.ruby-group.co.uk

I put the cladding up over Christmas a couple of years ago. I then waited 6 months later and then applied two liberal coats of Osmo UV protect 420, Clear Satin. It was already starting to go grey and water stained around this time so I first had to treat it with a wood brightener to restore the natural colour before doing the Osmo. This transformed it and gave it a warmer tone and slight sheen that looks quite impressive. If budget wasn't a factor I would have paid 3 times the amount and bought a graded clear Canadian WRC which really does look stunning, but I can definitely live with what I've got, knots and all.

Any chance you can post a pic or two, I'd be interested in seeing this.

Wasn't in the market for cedar, was thinking of using rough sawn treated and then paint, but I've looked on the Ruby site and the Home Grown Cedar looks similar to what I've got in mind, was just curious what it looks like in 'real life'.

TIA

 

[efunc]

I was just going through my phone to see what I have. When I get a chance I'll upload pics of it when freshly installed, once weathered, after re-cleaning and finally after applying Osmo UV Protection Oil Extra. Will sort it out shortly.

 

[efunc]

budget’s not my main driver, getting the treatment right to maintain the colour is. I do like the British cedar too tho, but mines not a massive area so gonna treat myself

Yeah, go for it! I have to say, if I was building a hipster cabin now I'd probably forego the clean cedar look and just scorch the surface with a blow torch. That carbonised look is pretty awesome in the right place and you can do it lightly to give it a warm aged look, or go fully scorched and black. Nothing will weatherproof it as well, and it looks pretty cool too!

 

[23vc]

Yeah, go for it! I have to say, if I was building a hipster cabin now I'd probably forego the clean cedar look and just scorch the surface with a blow torch. That carbonised look is pretty awesome in the right place and you can do it lightly to give it a warm aged look, or go fully scorched and black. Nothing will weatherproof it as well, and it looks pretty cool too!

Agree, and that may well be one for my man cave but that’s a way off sadly

 

[efunc]

Any chance you can post a pic or two, I'd be interested in seeing this.

Wasn't in the market for cedar, was thinking of using rough sawn treated and then paint, but I've looked on the Ruby site and the Home Grown Cedar looks similar to what I've got in mind, was just curious what it looks like in 'real life'.

TIA

Here's what I've found. Here's the cladding newly installed, winter of 2019:

This is later in the spring of 2020:

By the summer it was getting quite water stained from tannings leaching in the rain as well as sun exposed areas going grey. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of that, but I didn't like the patchy look. This just before it got noticable in early summer:

In the summer of 2020 I scrubbed it a washed it all down with a wood reviver/brightener intended for outdoor teak wood. You can see how blond it made it here. Particularly the areas that suffered most from staining, like the front of the overhang, and the bottom right corner that's exposed to prevailing rain:

I left it a couple of days to dry and then followed with Osmo Clear UV Protection. First one coat:

And then another a few days later:

The oil really gives it the depth and richness back, although obviously it makes the knots equally prominent. And nine months and 3 seasons later, it still looks as good:

 

[23vc]

Here's what I've found. Here's the cladding newly installed, winter of 2019:

This is later in the spring of 2020:

By the summer it was getting quite water stained from tannings leaching in the rain as well as sun exposed areas going grey. Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of that, but I didn't like the patchy look. This just before it got noticable in early summer:

In the summer of 2020 I scrubbed it a washed it all down with a wood reviver/brightener intended for outdoor teak wood. You can see how blond it made it here. Particularly the areas that suffered most from staining, like the front of the overhang, and the bottom right corner that's exposed to prevailing rain:

I left it a couple of days to dry and then followed with Osmo Clear UV Protection. First one coat:

And then another a few days later:

The oil really gives it the depth and richness back, although obviously it makes the knots equally prominent. And nine months and 3 seasons later, it still looks as good:

that looks awesome, great job. You should be very pleased with that and I don’t think even WRC would beat the look you’ve got there.

 

[^woody^]

To knot or not? That is the question.

I'm not a fan of knotty timber anywhere, and it gives a completely different aesthetic on cladding. But as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder

 

[efunc]

To knot or not? That is the question.

I'm not a fan of knotty timber anywhere, and it gives a completely different aesthetic on cladding. But as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Yes, I'm inclined to agree. Of the 4 main options this was the knottiest. I actually originally built the entire structure and clad it in treated soft wood (spruce I think). That was actually quite pleasing and had far fewer knots. Of course treated timber is much cheaper, but then it doesn't last anything like as long. Anyway, I tore that version of the garden room down because of faults with the construction. When I redid it I had a chance to think again about the design. I was wavering between Canadian WRC and Siberian Larch. Both of these come in very clear graded versions with no knots. Larch is a good choice but is heavier than cedar and probably has less longevity but can look very nice indeed. Unfortunately the very good siberian versions come in close to the price of cedar. Canadian cedar is really the premium choice but is around 3 times the cost of the British Cedar I ended up with, because I was trying to stick to a budget. Unfortunately I bought it sight unseen and didn't anticipate the appearance of so many knots. You very quickly get used to it though. I've also noticed a lot of french oak entering the market which is priced low enough to compete with the likes of larch. I might even had considered that as a very stable option. I did buy a load of big oak sleepers which are doing well.

 

[23vc]

For me it does work nicely on that cabin. Just ordered £700 of WRC from Vincent’s , will post pics eventually

 

[23vc]

Less than 2kg should be the cheapest postage rate @ £6.60. I had a box of 400 off them a few years ago and got charged the low rate. They covered 25m2 IIRC, and I had some left over.

For the oil, I had a tin of clear and cedar and I made a big big mistake of mistakenly using the cedar shade on cedar, and it came out a bland cedar colour, took most of the grain definition away. I had to sand the whole lot down. Use the Clear UV Protection Oil 420 Extra.

Sorry, more questions. Woody did you use the clear osmo for your end grain protection? Or an actual end grain treatment? And reckon you can get away with a single coat?
I’m still generally confused about to what extent I’m meant to pre treat this stuff, but I think I’ll at least try and get the end grains done as I fit it. Then do the 2 month wait thing