Timber Cladding Blog

Here are some pictures of our cedar cladding

Here is a custom profile we have just milled.

Here is a pictures of a recent treated timber cladding project.

We have currently large stocks of Cedar cladding in grade 2 clear which is the highest grade commonly used un the UK. 

We can mill our timber to any secret or face fix cladding profile or a planed square or feather edge.

We are FSC certified to ensure all our timber is sustainable.

We have added new clearance items

Real homes magazine have an article titled a Contemporary wooden annexe. The Cedar cladding was supplied by Benchmark Timber

We are often asked this question. We discuss the advantages, disadvantages and options and price implications.

Due to the forest fires this season being worse than usual there have some been problems in logging resulting in cedar shortages.  Luckily we have enough clear timber stocks to cover these shortages. 

We are able to treat our timber cladding.

Here is a picture of Cedar cladding treated with Sikkens WF771 in light oak. The timber is stacked for drying before delivery

When fitting Siberian Larch cladding it is important to allow for board movement. In the winter the boards will expand by up to 4mm due to moisture content.

Here is a picture of our cedar cladding treated in sikkens WF771 light oak colour while drying.

This is a particularly good colour as it gives a rich colour while allowing the cedar to show through.

This timber treatment is very easy to apply and maintain.

Please contact us for costs to factory treat cedar cladding.

This week we have had our annual PEFC audit.

Documentation is checked to confirm all timber sold as sustainable has been purchased from PEFC audited suppliers.

We are pleased to confirm that all of our timber can be traced through the supply chain to the certified forest.

Our PEFC certificate can be seen at http://pefc.org/company-detail?id=543396

Please ask for a price for Sioo aged grey treatment on our timber cladding. We treat with two coats of wood protector and one coat of surface protector. The system reacts with moisture over time to turn the timber an even grey colour.

Pictures of treated cedar cladding after two weeks.

Here are pictures of our cedar cladding corner trim.

We have treated a board with three samples shown in the pictures which we will allow to weather over a year to test the weathering properties.

We have samples of our cedar cladding.

Please order at http://www.benchmarktimber.co.uk/clearance

Please visit our timber cladding showcase page where we have some useful information.

We have some outstanding offers on cedar cladding at the moment.

We have 14 x 144 face fix cladding from £26.00 per square m and secret fix from £28... per square m + vat.

This is our usual prime clear coastal grown western red cedar which we mill to order.

The price is discounted based on short lengths. We also have offers for longer lengths.

If specified lengths are required we are of course able to offer this as usual at our usual competitive prices.

Here are some pictures of our cedar cladding drying after being treated with Sikkens WF771.

The colour looks great on cedar giving a very natural look.

Here are some pictures a customer has kindly sent us showing our planed rebated feather edge cedar cladding.

We also offer this in 10 to 4mm thick x 144mm wide with a 135mm cover which offers outstanding value at about £21.00 per square m plus vat.

The first picture shows the range of deep colours the coastal grown Canadian cedar offers which internally grown or British cedar cannot match.

We also supplied bespoke trim for this project.

The corners look particularly good being mitred. This is quite tricky to achieve - often customers prefer to use our 38mm square corner posts which are easier to but up to with the cladding.

UK Cedar can at first look a good low cost option.

It is important to know that UK cedar does not offer all of the properties of Canadian cedar. It should therefore be considered on its own merit.

UK cedar is much faster growing than Canadian cedar, the timber is far less dense and very soft.

UK Cedar tends to be in shorter lengths and quite knotty.

UK Cedar is does not offer the same durability properties as the natural protective oils (found in Canadian) are less concentrated -UK must be treated to prevent decay, Canadian is naturally durable. UK Cedar tends to have more sapwood which not durable

Cedar is known and admired for the range of deep browns and red colours, this is Canadian Coastal grown cedar. Timber from old slow grown trees tend to be a darker colour while Canadian internally grown cedar is lighter in colour while UK grown cedar is a very light colour.

UK grown cedar may be a good choice if compared with other softwoods in its own right but does not compare well with premium Coastal grown Western Red Cedar.

A customer asked today for information on how to fix battens when installing vertical cladding.

The important consideration is to ensure there is an adequate flow of air behind the cladding and there is not a water trap between the battens and the building structure. These pictures show how to do this. This is also available along with other useful information at our site: https://issuu.com/benchmark-timber

Water traps should also be considered when choosing the cladding profile - if choosing a channel design then select our channel 1A which has a slight angle for water drain off.

Please also remember to use stainless steel fixings with Western red cedar as ferrous materials react with the tannins in cedar causing black staining.

Please do not hesitate in phoning us for further installation advice.

Canada’s timber market may be impacted by Donald Trump’s election, the president elect may negotiate terms to help to the United States

Duties could be imposed on Canadian timber exports to the United States.

How will this impact the UK Cedar market is unsure - maybe it will make it more attractive for Canadian mills to sell to the UK? Maybe logging in Canada may be further reduced, affecting supply?

Benchmark Timber have been importing Western red Cedar for 12 years and in this time there have been many ups and downs in the Canadian lumber market. We have very good relationships with our mills and are optimistic a deal will be struck between Canada and the USA to help the Canadian Lumber industry.

We hope this years steep price increases have now levelled out.

We have updated or offer prices and pack offers.

The prices have been reduced slightly which is unusual against recent lumber price increases in the industry.

These offers are for a limited time only to clear some stock for the new year.

The stock is all coastal grown Canadian western red cedar from primary sawmills, although the prices are low the quality is high as usual.

We are still taking orders for cedar cladding this week for delivery before Christmas. I'm afraid treated cladding will now have to wait until the new year. We also still have some clearance offers available.

Please visit our cedar cladding page for further details.

Here are some pictures of our secret fix thermowood decking. We can also mill thermowood to any timber cladding profile.

Please visit our clearance page for our latest offers. We have also heavily discounted our 6 and 7ft lengths.

Please visit our timber cladding and clearance page for details.

Here are some pictures a customer has just sent us showing our cedar PTGV cedar cladding used as very contemporary fencing. Please visit our timber cladding page for prices and details of different timbers

Would like to thank you for the wonderful timber supplied to the above property, both the cedar and thermowood decking look great, attached are a few pictures of the project.

I want to retain the natural colour of the cedar and would like some advise with the best product for this, my Chippy has recommended Osmo UV oil but when reviewing this Osmo say to leave the timber exposed for minimum 12 weeks, I am concerned that in this period we may loose the natural Colour which we want to retain, is there anything else which you would recommended to retain the natural cedar colour.

Many thanks

Here is a recent project a customer has sent us using our Thermowood decking

We are very pleased with how natural this product looks please visit our timber cladding staining page for further details.

Here are some pictures of a recent project where we supplied the cedar cladding

We are now able to treat our cedar cladding and can fire treat the timber.

Please contact us for prices.

The picture is cedar cladding treated with Sikkens WF771 savanna.

Clear Western red cedar cladding

Grade 2 Clear grade with a % of grade 4 clear

Milled to a feather edge profile with a rebate to keep the boards flat on the battens.

Finishing at 11 to 4mm thick x 144mm wide with a 135mm cover.

This as a planed finish on one side and sawn on the other.

Please visit our cedar cladding clearance offers page and also our timber cladding page for further information