Adding cladding to your home can improve everything from thermal efficiency to appearance, but you need to spend a little time deciding on the right material. For most people, that comes down to metal vs. timber. Here are just a few reasons why you’ll be happy you chose timber.
Environmentally-Friendly
When sustainably farmed, timber production actually helps the environment. After all, planting and farming trees sustainably helps remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Timber cladding has a low carbon footprint and doesn’t require any extensive use of fossil fuels or mining. It can also be reused very easily if your cladding ever needs to be stripped away. Metal isn’t as bad for the environment as a plastic-based cladding material, but it’s nowhere near as good as timber. Metal will corrode over time, so in the event that a commercial cladding cleaning service is hired, it could cost them more time to clean it.
Excellent Insulation
If you’re adding external cladding to a property, it’s a good bet you’re doing so to improve insulation. As such, timber should really be your go-to material. Timber cladding is thicker and denser, so it does a wonderful job of keeping the warm air in during winter and the heat out during summer. Better yet, it blocks outside sounds much more effectively than metal. From lowering your energy bills to keeping your property quiet, timber offers superior insulation.
Natural Appearance
Probably the most compelling reason to choose timber cladding over metal is enjoying a more natural appearance. The natural grain and colour of genuine timber is attractive all by itself, and there are plenty of species from which to choose. Metal doesn’t look as naturally attractive, and it doesn’t weather in the pleasant way timber does.
Lower Cost
It’s always smart to keep an eye on costs when you’re making any changes to your property. Adding external cladding doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think, and switching from metal cladding to timber. Though prices vary according to the type of metal or timber and the distributor you go through, timber will almost always work out as the less expensive option.