Timber Cladding a possibility for an entrance???

bfclancy · 11-08-2020 12:41pm #1

Hi, i have an entrance to my house, its just plain block skew back either side of a metal gate and i'm looking for an alternative way to finish the blockwork away from stone, brick or render, Would cladding it in cedar or some other type of wood be appropriate, how would it look, would it be durable enough.
Attached are images of the entrance. So i was thinking battens on the wall running vertically and the cladding fixed to this with maybe a large piece of timber as a wall cap, similar dimensions to an old railway sleeper.

listermint · 11-08-2020 2:09pm

cedar very durable, expensive though vertical installation yes. best to horizontal batten for ease of installation and space horizontal battens from wall surface with either timber or plastic spacers, this is for drainage so the horizontals dont keep water in. Also allows air around the back to extend the life of the cedar.

Nice idea tbh, entrances can be so drab when left with render finish. it would be a good distinction to the entrance to finish it well.

Pkiernan · 11-08-2020 2:12pm

Just one word of caution. Did planninf for the house specify the type of finish on the wall?

listermint · 11-08-2020 2:14pm

Pkiernan wrote: »

Just one word of caution. Did planninf for the house specify the type of finish on the wall?

very fair question.

enforcement though... ... . ... . youd want to have put up some absolute mad stuff for any complaints to be registered.

bfclancy · 11-08-2020 3:32pm

Must check my planning conditions see if a finish was specified to entrance.
So Listermint you are suggesting fixing a horizontal batten (perhaps a treated 2*2 or 2*1 express nailed to the wall for example) to the wall and then vertical lengths of cedar with a spacer behind the horizontal batten in order to let moisture weep down through. I think it would look well but would love to see an image of something similar done somewhere.

Lumen · 11-08-2020 4:46pm

I love wood but I think it will be expensive and look weird.

Cladding tall boundary walls looks OK because you can only see one side of them.

In this case you'll see the top and back, so are you going to clad those too?

looksee · 11-08-2020 4:51pm

You have invited opinions on how it would look - so my contribution: I think it would look a bit odd, entirely unrelated to the house. No problem with cedar cladding, but it needs a bit of rationale and against a rendered bungalow with absolutely no timber trim I am not seeing it looking well. It would not match the gates either.

I also think you will find you have planning restrictions.

jack of all · 11-08-2020 4:59pm

I think the other posters have a valid point- timber cladding (especially cedar and iroko) can look great but it's not referenced anywhere else in your external elevations. The big mistake I see people making with entrances is using very thin/ skimpy precast copings (they look mean/ ran out of money). A nice heaving coping, maybe insitu concrete and a good rendering can look good. I love a fine wet dash, but it's not to everyone's taste. If you go for the rendered finish it will set off any planting/ shrubbery you plant behind it.

Calahonda52 · 11-08-2020 7:15pm

For all the reasons stated above I think it's the wrong answer.

good render coat anyway
3 coats, scratch/base/finish, with the proper plasticiser and not fairy liquid.
Put the proper rain drip normally mould at the dpc line in a house wall ( cant remember the proper name) and maybe paint the lower piece black

bfclancy · 11-08-2020 7:48pm

Lot to mull over, the reason i asked was to see if anyone had examples i was unsure as to how it would look either. Its probably a no so and that's fair enough. Problem is now its a single skin of block and any capping in situ or not will look skimpy, probably requires another block on edge to bring it to a 225mm thick wall and then cast a cap on top, i'll be painting it forever more

listermint · 11-08-2020 7:53pm

The big mistake alot of people do is trying to tie in continuity all over the build. It stinks of old architectural practice. The amount of abysmal homes around with faux stone elevation tied in with same faux stone entrance walls is gas. Continuity doesn't have to exist in the house whatsoever a balance of different materials and contrast in colours would make the house look far more fresh than the business of sameness. Rendering that wall would add nothing special. And I'm a fan of fresh render.

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:05pm

listermint wrote: »

The big mistake alot of people do is trying to tie in continuity all over the build. It stinks of old architectural practice. The amount of abysmal homes around with faux stone elevation tied in with same faux stone entrance walls is gas. Continuity doesn't have to exist in the house whatsoever a balance of different materials and contrast in colours would make the house look far more fresh than the business of sameness. Rendering that wall would add nothing special. And I'm a fan of fresh render.

Some thing like this?

https://trenduhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fabulous-Wooden-Fence-Design-Ideas-For-Home-31.jpg

I dont think it would be horrible but i think perhaps of the natural wood maybe paint it a dark black/blue.

If you do decide to go with it the plants amd landscaping around it will make or break it.

Took another look at the pictures, I dont think it'll work. Its a very contemporary look and the house looks like a normal house, albeit a nice one.

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:10pm

listermint wrote: »

The big mistake alot of people do is trying to tie in continuity all over the build. It stinks of old architectural practice. The amount of abysmal homes around with faux stone elevation tied in with same faux stone entrance walls is gas. Continuity doesn't have to exist in the house whatsoever a balance of different materials and contrast in colours would make the house look far more fresh than the business of sameness. Rendering that wall would add nothing special. And I'm a fan of fresh render.

I do agree with this, probably why we see those all pine interiors however i dont think the wooden front would look good. Possibly would on its own. If i was dead set on the timber entranceway id make sure the view of the house was obstructed from the road so they could almost be two separate entities

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:14pm

Oh one more thing, cedar or iroko being durable. It is but it will silver. It wont hold its colour unless you treat it almost yearly so no gwtting away from painting no matter what you pick.
Unless you want that silvered look

bfclancy · 11-08-2020 8:21pm

seannash wrote: »

Some thing like this?

https://trenduhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fabulous-Wooden-Fence-Design-Ideas-For-Home-31.jpg

I dont think it would be horrible but i think perhaps of the natural wood maybe paint it a dark black/blue.

If you do decide to go with it the plants amd landscaping around it will make or break it.

Took another look at the pictures, I dont think it'll work. Its a very contemporary look and the house looks like a normal house, albeit a nice one.

I think that would look well, for a bit of extra context the reverse view shows a cross the road a hardwood forest with ash, beech, birch, roan etc

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:40pm

bfclancy wrote: »

I think that would look well, for a bit of extra context the reverse view shows a cross the road a hardwood forest with ash, beech, birch, roan etc

I agree from that view it would look good. Id still recommend you block the view of the house from the road for it to work without it looking too out of place

mycro2013 · 11-08-2020 8:48pm

Plaster the walls first, this will give you a second option , easy to fix the timber after to the wall with a few batons.

Lumen · 11-08-2020 8:49pm

seannash wrote: »

Some thing like this?

https://trenduhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fabulous-Wooden-Fence-Design-Ideas-For-Home-31.jpg

That's a fence attached to a cladded pier. That might just about make sense, if you needed to hang heavy gates.

What's proposed is cladding a wall and a pier. It just doesn't make any sense, architecturally, unless it's a party wall that you don't control, which this isn't.

Wall, fence, pick one.

Otherwise it will look like you built an ugly wall and then decided to cover it up.

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:53pm

Lumen wrote: »

That's a fence attached to a cladded pier. That might just about make sense, if you needed to hang heavy gates.

What's proposed is cladding a wall and a pier. It just doesn't make any sense, architecturally, unless it's a party wall that you don't control, which this isn't.

Wall, fence, pick one.

Otherwise it will look like you built an ugly wall and then decided to cover it up.

But if you wrap the wall in cladding who will know whats behind it.

Lumen · 11-08-2020 8:56pm

seannash wrote: »

But if you wrap the wall in cladding who will know whats behind it.

Aha! Well that's the thing isn't it, anyone who knows walls and fences.

I admit I have unreasonably strong views on walls and fences. I have books on walls and photo albums of fences. So feel free to write me off as an extremist.

seannash · 11-08-2020 8:58pm

Lumen wrote: »

Aha! Well that's the thing isn't it, anyone who knows walls and fences.

I admit I have unreasonably strong views on walls and fences
I have books on walls and photo albums of fences. So feel free to write me off as an extremist.

Perfectly understandable, however you might be an outlier in terms of people who will see this 😄

caddy16 · 12-08-2020 8:05am

bfclancy wrote: »

Hi, i have an entrance to my house, its just plain block skew back either side of a metal gate and i'm looking for an alternative way to finish the blockwork away from stone, brick or render, Would cladding it in cedar or some other type of wood be appropriate, how would it look, would it be durable enough.
Attached are images of the entrance. So i was thinking battens on the wall running vertically and the cladding fixed to this with maybe a large piece of timber as a wall cap, similar dimensions to an old railway sleeper.

Like the gate, can you pm supplier please.

listermint · 12-08-2020 8:10am

seannash wrote: »

Some thing like this?

https://trenduhome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fabulous-Wooden-Fence-Design-Ideas-For-Home-31.jpg

I dont think it would be horrible but i think perhaps of the natural wood maybe paint it a dark black/blue.

If you do decide to go with it the plants amd landscaping around it will make or break it.

Took another look at the pictures, I dont think it'll work. Its a very contemporary look and the house looks like a normal house, albeit a nice one.

Nice colour choice I like it.

The front of the house has tin cladding or extruded aluminium. I don't think that's quite normal tbh.

One good thing I've been told was . 'it doesn't have to make sense, it has to make sense to you'

listermint · 12-08-2020 8:14am

Lumen wrote: »

That's a fence attached to a cladded pier. That might just about make sense, if you needed to hang heavy gates.

What's proposed is cladding a wall and a pier. It just doesn't make any sense, architecturally, unless it's a party wall that you don't control, which this isn't.

Wall, fence, pick one.

Otherwise it will look like you built an ugly wall and then decided to cover it up.

Extremely odd way of looking at things tbh lumen. We have whole industries built on the concept of cladding systems. It's in the term cladding you are actually cladding a wall. It doesn't mean the wall is crap in fact the wall should be decent quality to take the cladding .

There are so many cladding systems available it would make your head spin.

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 8:30am

I believe i may go with the cedar cladding, anyone know a good supplier in the Munster area

Lumen · 12-08-2020 8:33am

listermint wrote: »

Extremely odd way of looking at things tbh lumen. We have whole industries built on the concept of cladding systems. It's in the term cladding you are actually cladding a wall. It doesn't mean the wall is crap in fact the wall should be decent quality to take the cladding .

There are so many cladding systems available it would make your head spin.

Freestanding wall vs wall of dwelling. Completely different requirements.

listermint · 12-08-2020 8:34am

Lumen wrote: »

Freestanding wall vs wall of dwelling. Completely different requirements.

Completely untrue. Cladding systems don't make the distinction. Your a purist though wall means wall fence means fence. You must shout at walls and fences around Dublin city :P

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 8:38am

To be honest i can take down the two walls and leave the piers to hang the gate there was only a few hours work in the building of it but i'd rather leave the wall there as i have no place to dispose of a couple of hundred blocks (and i'm not a purist)

Lumen · 12-08-2020 8:40am

listermint wrote: »

Completely untrue. Cladding systems don't make the distinction. Your a purist though wall means wall fence means fence. You must shout at walls and fences around Dublin city :P

I do. Those stone faced block walls around South Dublin drive me nuts. Particularly the vertical crazy paving type where the bed of the stone runs in the plane of the wall.

What is the point of a freestanding wall clad in wood? What does it achieve, functionally or aesthetically, that a fence alone doesn't?

The only thing I can think of is to stop someone driving through it, but that is more efficiently achieved with a berm or ditch.

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 8:43am

you're not a very practical person are you, in this scenario my wall was built purely to form an entranceway when the house was built with materials left over from the build at a low cost that i could complete myself. Now eighteen months down the line i want to do something aesthetically pleasing

mickdw · 12-08-2020 8:43am

I think you will have a bit too much going on if you put too much detail on the entrance.
The bay window sitting in the front facing gable is a busy enough feature.
Id render the wall and use a simple cap but there is something wrong with the layout of the entrance walls. It looks terrible when looking towards the road.

Lumen · 12-08-2020 8:44am

The practical solution is to render and cap it.

Anyway, I don't want to be annoying you, so I'm out :pac:

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 8:47am

Lumen wrote: »

The practical solution is to render and cap it.

Anyway, I don't want to be annoying you, so I'm out :pac:

you're not annoying me at all, i agree if this was a fully thought out solution from the outset it would either be fence or wall, but it wasn't, its an organic thing (make it up as i go along :pac:)

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 8:50am

mickdw wrote: »

I think you will have a bit too much going on if you put too much detail on the entrance.
The bay window sitting in the front facing gable is a busy enough feature.
Id render the wall and use a simple cap but there is something wrong with the layout of the entrance walls. It looks terrible when looking towards the road.

jasus terrible is a strong word, picture is taken at an angle not straight on, from straight on its symmetrical, photo was just to show woods in background

Markcheese · 12-08-2020 8:58am

It could look brilliant , the planting around it will be a big factor ,

listermint · 12-08-2020 9:26am

bfclancy wrote: »

you're not annoying me at all, i agree if this was a fully thought out solution from the outset it would either be fence or wall, but it wasn't, its an organic thing (make it up as i go along :pac:)

As it should be. Organic is the nature of home ownership. Anyone claiming to get it right from the start is telling fibs.

listermint · 12-08-2020 9:27am

mickdw wrote: »

I think you will have a bit too much going on if you put too much detail on the entrance.
The bay window sitting in the front facing gable is a busy enough feature.
Id render the wall and use a simple cap but there is something wrong with the layout of the entrance walls. It looks terrible when looking towards the road.

Too much going on ? ...... ... I see very little tbh. It's overall quite a blank canvas.

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 9:31am

caddy16 wrote: »

Like the gate, can you pm supplier please.

A relation made it, does so in his spare time for family, doesn't do it in a commercial sense

looksee · 12-08-2020 9:44am

Would you clad the back of the wall too? Because that is the side that you will see most of, and visitors will get a good look at as they leave, and will see it against the backdrop of trees.

I agree with Lumen, I am not a fan of cladding. I prefer to see walls that are essentially structure. But that's me and doesn't mean others have to agree with me. I'd refer a fence OR a wall. But if you like the idea of timber clad walls - and the one in the pic that someone posted does look good - then go for it.

I also don't like 'sets' of things - three piece suites, having everything matching - but I do feel that there needs to be some sense of connection between elements. They don't have to be the same, but there does need to be some sense of relevance. But again, that's my preference, it doesn't have to be yours.

Given a free run at the area I would put in mixed hedgerow in place of the walls and plant groups of trees in front of the house. Not to hide the house, but to dress it and give it a bit of intrigue, and bring it back into sympathy with the countryside around it.

Lumen · 12-08-2020 9:48am

On a related note, a couple of runs of post and rail down those side boundaries would really frame the site (unless it's your land on the both side of them).

But if the fencing you have works then it's complete frippery, so I shouid rightly fall on my amateur architectural sword.

Also agree with looksee that it's your wall and you should do whatever you want with it. These are just opinions.

mickdw · 12-08-2020 10:00am

listermint wrote: »

Too much going on ? ...... ... I see very little tbh. It's overall quite a blank canvas.

The bay window really. Just seems abit much sitting on the front facing gable in my opinion. Its a fine property, dont get me wrong.

listermint · 12-08-2020 10:28am

mickdw wrote: »

The bay window really. Just seems abit much sitting on the front facing gable in my opinion. Its a fine property, dont get me wrong.

tbh, i didnt even notice it until i looked at the image a few times, thats how much it didnt jump out at me. Hence my point of not much. Its very muted.

seannash · 12-08-2020 11:39am

bfclancy wrote: »

I believe i may go with the cedar cladding, anyone know a good supplier in the Munster area

I used Abbey Woods for the external Iroko cladding on my house.
They were the cheapest I could find.
Cost was 4900 euros ex VAT for 1400 linear metres
Picture of the unfinished house below

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5NYQZzHeLF/

Shaunoc · 12-08-2020 11:52am

vote to plaster, as blocks in place and reduce further hardship and cost
put a raised bed on outside and plant it to soften the look
plant inside, suitable trees / shrubs.
set a climber up wall it if you wish to hide wall later

SemperFidelis · 12-08-2020 11:56am

I'd go ahead and clad it. you can always rip it off in the future if you don't like it. You could also clad the wall around your patio to pull the house into it.

bfclancy · 12-08-2020 12:52pm

SemperFidelis wrote: »

I'd go ahead and clad it. you can always rip it off in the future if you don't like it. You could also clad the wall around your patio to pull the house into it.

Be expensive to clad it to just then remove it at a later date, can't see from picture but wall around patio is built in liscannor stone so won't be cladding

Lex Luthor · 12-08-2020 3:24pm

what about the blockwork on the wall across the road? Maybe try to tie it in with that with a similar look?

Lumen · 12-08-2020 9:54pm

seannash wrote: »

I used Abbey Woods for the external Iroko cladding on my house.
They were the cheapest I could find.
Cost was 4900 euros ex VAT for 1400 linear metres
Picture of the unfinished house below

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5NYQZzHeLF/

What width are those? They look about 50mm.

seannash · 12-08-2020 9:58pm

Lumen wrote: »

What width are those? They look about 50mm.

44mm by 18mm

Lumen · 12-08-2020 10:08pm

seannash wrote: »

44mm by 18mm

Cool, so I think that works out about €80-90/sqm before wastage, including shadow gaps.

Hardwood is so expensive in Ireland, check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5UFmQfKxI

You would need to hate money to make a fence that size from cedar in Ireland.

Timber Cladding a possibility for an entrance???

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