Aesthetics: which type of cladding looks better?
Wood cladding (most often made from western red cedar wood or Siberian larch) can be painted with stain, oils, or even left untreated for a totally natural look. Planks are available in several different styles, including chamfered channel cladding, bevelled edge cladding, tongue and groove interlocked or ship-lapped effect. This allows for both traditional and modern design aesthetics. You can achieve a modern, seamless look with tongue-and-groove panels, or a rural look with board-and-batten.
PVC cladding, also known as uPVC, Vinyl or Plasic cladding, comes in a variety of colours and sizes and offers both smooth and wood grain effect finishes. Despite the variety of more traditional effect finishes on offer, uPVC cladding is best used for a modern design as in our view, the wood effect and more natural finishes are easily seen through even when inspected from a curb-side distance. Up close, wood effect vinyl is fooling no-one.
A unique combination of cellulose fibre and cementitious material, fibre cement cladding comes in long, horizontal strips, just like wood cladding planks. It is available in a wide range of colours – James Hardie offers 21 shades to choose from, for example – and typically two textures, from a modern smooth finish to a more rustic rough-hewn look.
Fibre cement does an extremely good job of replicating the look of painted wood. It cannot really replace a natural unpainted wood finish convincingly, as if you examine it very closely, you may notice that the grain is perhaps a little too even and perfect to be real wood.
So decision wise on aesthetics, your choice of material really should come down to the look you want to achieve. Do you have your heart set on natural, untreated, unpainted wood? If so, there is really no substitute for cedar wood cladding. It can look very beautiful immediately after installation, although you should take into consideration the way the facade will date, and the likely maintenance and repair issues that will arise.
If however you love the idea of a traditional or contemporary painted wood finish, but would rather pass on the ongoing heavy maintenance, a convincingly realistic fibre cement cladding such as HardiePlank® weatherboard, just might be the solution for you.