Top Garden Room Cladding Options

Your garden room is an extension of your home, and you want it to blend seamlessly with your garden landscaping. Some years ago, you would have just been looking at timber cladding boards to complete the structure.
Those days are gone. Today, you have an extensive choice of exterior finishes for your garden room design, whatever its purpose. With a plethora of cladding materials and styles on offer, you’re spoilt for choice.
From timber cladding through to composite cladding including fibre cement boards and other composite materials, your exterior cladding can incorporate recycled materials and even colour match other buildings.
Making the right choice to match your garden room space will depend on many variables, from the level of maintenance you want to provide to the colour, finish and overall look you’re seeking to achieve.
Here, we’ll cover off just a few appropriate choices you can specify for your garden room cladding or modular extension for traditional and contemporary style buildings.
Types of garden room cladding
You may be surprised and even somewhat confused by the range of options for garden room cladding. Although some of these are similar in terms of performance and feel, each one has a unique material makeup that incorporates slightly different benefits in terms of overall functionality, visual aesthetics and finish.
Timber/Wood cladding
Choosing wood cladding gives your garden room design a natural elegance, with all the attractive patterns, whorls, spirals and knots inherent in timber products. Timber cladding is a popular option which can also enhance natural insulation properties for garden room ranges.
Although timber cladding is durable and offers a long potential lifespan, it will require regular maintenance to keep it in prime condition over the years.
Most popular types of wood cladding
The cost will depend on your choice of wood. The two most popular species for modern garden rooms are cedar and Siberian larch. Both have the added advantage of changing colour as they age, providing an aesthetically pleasing finish.
The natural beauty of cedar cladding will add character and elegance to any garden room. With its striking reddish brown coloration, it has the added advantage of being resistant to fungal attack and rot.
Cedar cladding will silver down over the years; if you want to maintain the original tone and shade of the wood, this will require ongoing maintenance in the shape of applying oils and other build up protective materials on a regular basis. The changes in coloration over time will not affect the performance of the wood, which left untreated has an expected lifespan of over twenty-five years.
Siberian larch is also a popular choice for garden room cladding. Originating in Russia with longer winters and shorter growing seasons, it is a dense wood and one of the hardest softwoods currently available in comparison with other materials.
It offers excellent aesthetic qualities for cladding, with an attractive weathered patina, developing a silvered and maintenance free effect as it ages.
So Siberian larch or cedar – which is best for your garden room project?
How durable are they?
Both are extremely durable, but you can expect cedar to offer slightly greater longevity. Cedar provides excellent dimensional stability, which means it will resist movement and shrinkage over time. It is also inherently resistant to moisture and rot.
Larch is also tough and resilient, containing natural resins providing natural resistance to decay. Both woods offer long term performance and appearance, but larch will be the more affordable option, widely available and providing excellent value for money.
From a sustainability point of view both are good choices, but larch has an edge due to reduced transportation distances.
Composite cladding
Also proving a popular and versatile material for garden room cladding on exterior walls are composite cladding materials. There are two different styles of composite cladding materials used on garden rooms; composite cladding and cement fibre boards.
Composite wood cladding
Composite wood cladding, like those from Ecoscape, is a popular low-maintenance choice and offers a range of finishes and colours designed to enhance the appearance and durability of garden rooms.
This tough and resilient material is made using a mix of resins, recycled plastic and real wood fibres. Dimensionally stable composite wood cladding is coloured using colour pigment added during the manufacturing process, which means the cladding retains its colour permanently and will not need repainting for the lifespan of the structure.
Advantages include:-
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Low maintenance requirements
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Available in a range of colours
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Offers both smooth and woodgrain composite wood finishes
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Suitable for vertical or horizontal installation, dependent upon design preferences
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Resistant to warping, rot, fungus, pests and UV light
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Hidden fixing systems to enhance aesthetics
Cost-wise over the lifespan of the structure, wood plastic composite (WPC) is a sensible choice with an excellent range of design options. It is the more affordable of the two composite options, however fibre cement cladding boards may offer improved longevity long term.
Fibre cement cladding/boards
Cement fibre boards, like those from Cedral, are manufactured using a mixture of cement and fibres, which creates a rigid and dimensionally stable board. Like composite wood, the colour pigment is incorporated at the production stage and the cement boards will not require repainting after time.
Usually featuring a natural woodgrain effect brushed surface, fibre cement panels are available as cladding or as boards which can be installed horizontally or vertically for a modern look.
Advantages include:-
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Highly durable with advanced performance and longevity
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Low maintenance alternative
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Wide range of colour choices and finishes
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Fibre cement is highly resistant to rot, mould, pests and UV light
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This type of composite cladding is low fire rating for added safety
From a cost point of view, fibre cement cladding has a similar price point to mid-range timber products. Prices will vary dependent upon brand and installation costs. Although it is marginally more expensive than wood plastic composite, enhanced longevity and increased durability means it provides a viable alternative.
Brick or stone slip cladding
Brick or stone cladding is also an option for your garden room rather than timber, particularly if you want to colour match the external appearance to a house or existing building.
Brick cladding, like those from Eurobrick, is created using thin layers of brick or brick slips, indistinguishable from a full brick when pointed.
Stone cladding uses thin layers of natural stone, installed over the insulated walls of the garden room, bringing a more luxurious look and feel to the building. Split face external stone cladding enhances aesthetics but also comes at a cost, and may require additional structural support for the whole building due to its inherent weight.
Benefits of both brick and stone slip cladding include:-
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Enhanced thermal and sound insulation
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Extremely durable and long lasting
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Excellent weather resistance
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Resistant to wear and tear
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Minimal maintenance required - no need for regular cleaning.
In summary
With such an extensive range on offer, your choice will be influenced by many factors, including your budget, low maintenance requirements,the environment where your garden room will be situated, how you plan to use the space and the overall look and feel you’re seeking to achieve.
Need to know more?
Come and visit or contact Make Room Outside for a more detailed chat about your personal preferences, design ideas and the advantages and costs of different garden room cladding options.
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