Larch cladding for extra love
If you don’t know much about us here at Cottenham Sawmills, one of the things you must know is that we love larch, we really do. In my own opinion, it’s one of the finest timbers in the land, which is why I have set about writing this blog and sharing some insightful facts all about it when it comes to cladding. I’m not biased, it’s all based on fact and soon you will realise why larch should be the number one choice for any timber building finish or restoration project.
It all starts right here with these larch logs Keep it traditional The cladding we supply here at the mill is waney-edge larch wood, a style of cladding that has been used in this country for many hundreds of years but is still popular today. And I know what you’re thinking – what’s waney-edge? Waney-edge means a board that has been cut straight from the tree, which has one or two edges with the bark still on, i.e. the waney-edge. The boards are laid to over-lap with the waney-edge showing – it’s a very traditional look (well, the old ways are the best) but more importantly, is very low maintenance thanks to larch’s wonderful properties.
From the first cut of the larch log to the completed larch-waney edge boards.
What would you clad? Waney-edge cladding is ideal for everything from barn to garage conversions, giving garden sheds a new lease of life and restoring traditional buildings. It’s becoming a modern phenomenon too, as more and more people extend their garden living spaces, creating summer houses, garden studios and other fabulous outdoor buildings. They want the natural look and seek sustainable materials such as larch timber, contrasting wonderfully with the dark framed, modern bifold doors and large windows.
We recently clad this double garage with larch waney-edge – it has real rustic, modern charm.
So, why use larch? We could just say it’s simply the best, but I have a feeling you want to know more than that. Larch is like the superhero of the timbers – it’s a genuine good guy with its excellent provenance, being sourced sustainably. It’s naturally long-lasting and super strong without any extra treatment or maintenance, being able to withstand the weather and outdoor elements. Considering how long it lasts and how little you need to do to look after it, it’s a very economical timber to use for this kind of cladding project. It also looks great – when wet, larch takes on orangey hues but then it dries to a lovely shimmering silver colour.
Up close and personal, looking at this garden shed completed with larch waney-edge cladding.
If you have a building in need of a bit of larch loving, or you’re working on a conversion or building a new garden space for which you want to blend the traditional with the modern, give us a call about larch waney-edge cladding. As you can see from the pictures, we cut everything by hand here at the mill, so you are guaranteed the finest, fairest, most natural larch across the whole land.
