How is external timber cladding fitted?

The boards are not fixed straight onto the wall. A treated timber batten framework goes up first, set out to give consistent fixing points across the whole elevation and to hold the boarding off the original surface. The cladding boards are then measured, cut and fixed individually to those battens, with the edges finished off at the top and base.

How much does external timber cladding cost?

It depends on the size of the wall, the timber specified, how much batten framework is needed behind it, access to the elevation, and how many awkward details there are to work around — trees, changes in level, junctions with adjoining buildings. A plain rectangular wall with clear access is a straightforward job; a wall full of obstructions takes longer. Send photos and Rob will give you an honest first view.

External Timber Cladding in Castleford

Q: Should timber cladding be screwed or nailed?

Both work, but we screwed this one. Screws give better control when pulling each board into position and a more secure mechanical fixing into the battens behind. They also mean a single damaged board can be taken off and replaced later without dismantling a run of cladding. Whichever you use, the fixings need proper corrosion protection — stainless steel, hot-dip galvanised, or a suitable high-performance coated steel — or they will rust and stain the timber.

Completed pressure-treated vertical timber garage cladding — The finished wall — vertical treated boards over a batten framework.

External timber cladding on a garage wall in Castleford. The job was to cover the exposed side of a garage with vertical timber boarding, giving the wall a cleaner appearance and a finish that worked with the garden around it.

Rather than fixing boards straight onto the existing wall, we built a treated timber framework first. That gave secure fixing points and let the boarding be set out properly.

External timber cladding for a garage wall

Pressure-treated timber battens fixed to the existing garage wall — The treated batten framework going up on the bare garage wall.

The wall was a plain garage elevation facing straight into the garden. Nothing wrong with it structurally — it just did nothing for the space it was sitting in.

Cladding a wall like this is not complicated work, but it is easy to get wrong. Boards that wander off line, a framework that doesn’t hold them flat, or fixings that rust and streak the timber will all show for as long as the cladding is up.

Preparing and battening the garage wall

The wall was battened using 2 × 1 inch pressure-treated roofing battens.

Setting the battens out correctly is the part that decides whether the finished job looks right. They had to give consistent support across the full width of the wall while working around the existing tree, the adjoining walls and the changes in height along the elevation.

The framework also holds the new boarding off the original surface rather than trapping it tight against the garage wall.

Fitting the vertical timber cladding

Pressure-treated rough-sawn boards were then measured, cut and fitted vertically across the wall.

First vertical timber cladding boards fixed to the battens and checked plumb — The first boards on, checked plumb against the batten framework.

The first board sets the line for everything after it, so it gets checked plumb before anything else goes up. Any lean in it carries across the whole wall and shows worse with every board you add.

Vertical rough-sawn treated timber boards being screwed to the battens — Boards going on one at a time, each one checked against the last.

Every board was positioned individually to keep the line consistent across the finished run.

Vertical boarding suited the proportions of this wall. It draws the eye up rather than along, which is what turns a flat garage elevation into something that reads as a deliberate timber feature.

Why the boards were screwed rather than nailed

The boards were face-fixed with corrosion-resistant exterior-grade screws suitable for treated timber.

Screwing gives better control when pulling each board into position, and a more secure mechanical fixing into the battens behind. It also means a single board can be taken off and replaced later without dismantling a whole section of cladding.

All external timber fixings need proper corrosion protection — stainless steel, hot-dip galvanised, or a suitable high-performance coated steel. Treated timber will eat cheap fixings, and once they start to go you get rust streaks running down the face of the boards.

Almost completed garage wall cladding in Castleford

The wall was finished with treated timber detailing along the top and base, which gives a defined edge and protects the exposed ends of the boarding.

Finished vertical timber cladding fitted to a garage wall — Top and base detailing finished, with the board ends covered.

The finished cladding changed the wall completely. The rough-sawn timber gives a natural, straightforward finish, and the vertical lines make the area feel cleaner and more enclosed than the bare wall did.

It is practical outdoor carpentry rather than fine joinery, but it still comes down to setting out, accurate cutting, and dealing properly with the awkward details around what is already there.

External timber cladding across West Yorkshire

This wall was in Castleford. Heritage Joiners fits external timber cladding, garden screening, fencing, gates and other outdoor carpentry across Castleford, Pontefract, Wakefield and the wider West Yorkshire area, as a joiner in Castleford and across the surrounding towns.

The work is done by a fully qualified apprentice trained bench hand joiner, time served, with over 35 years’ workshop and site experience.

If you have a wall you are thinking of cladding, send photographs for an honest first opinion — the wall itself, what is around it, and anything the boarding will have to work around.