Cladding Alternatives to Suit Your Style

If you’ve ever had to renovate a part of your home, you’ll know how quickly costs can accumulate. It’s all too common for more and more issues to come out of the woodwork, and they definitely add up over time. In these instances, we have to consider if other cladding alternatives can justify their lower price tags, or if it’s worth taking the time to save for a longer-lasting solution. If you have to choose an alternative material, you need to know what you’re getting yourself in for. Only then can you decide if waiting for composite cladding is the best choice (spoiler alert: it is!)

When you think of cladding, chances are the first thing to pop into your head is traditional timber. It’s natural, relatively hardy, and pretty inexpensive too. At least, that’s how it seems at first glance. The fact of the matter is that, while timber is a great short-term solution, its maintenance demands and longevity struggles will eventually start eating into your day-to-day routines. To keep it looking beautiful, you have to make sure you’re fully committed to frequent sanding and sealing, making it better suited to properties that are about to go on the market. Though it may be cheaper than composite cladding at the outset, timber cladding is quick to take more from you in the long run. But, as a cladding alternative, it’s a pretty good pick. So long as you don’t mind the upkeep.

If cladding isn’t your style, however, you could always look to fix up your brickwork. Especially if you live in an area where home modifications are either frowned upon or restricted. Thankfully, there are plenty of heritage restoration specialists who are happy to help. One way in which they do so is through a method known as repointing. In essence, this process sees an expert carefully working around the brickwork to bring new life to the exterior of your home. Not too obstructive or invasive, repointing is a cladding alternative that, while requiring a little more research, is ideal for anyone limited by the regulations of conservation areas and the like. Just make sure to get permission if your project is on the more ambitious side.

Depending how confident you are in your abilities, you may even consider painting the exterior of your house. In instances where repointing isn’t an option, you might be tempted to throw up some colour to cover brick degradation or staining. Though there’s technically nothing stopping you, we wouldn’t recommend such an ambitious venture. Not only could it rub your neighbours and local council the wrong way, but paint isn’t guaranteed to last. In addition to providing very few benefits, painting your exterior is a cladding alternative that runs the risk of looking worse than what you started with.

Luckily, NeoTimber’s composite cladding selection gives you plenty of colour options to play around with. From cosy neutral tones to modern black and grey, we offer a wide array of colours, complete with matching edging and trims. So, before you whip out that paintbrush, consider whether you’d prefer your new lick of paint to come with actual benefits – namely long-lasting colour saturation and a flawless woodgrain finish.

Hardier than timber but flimsier than composite cladding, PVC cladding is a cladding alternative that offers homeowners some wonderful benefits. Able to resist the atrocity that is the British weather – and look pretty nice doing it – PVC is a choice suited to those with restricted budgets. All in all, it’s cheaper than most other cladding alternatives, but the drawbacks come in the form of the final look and feel. There aren’t many ways to stop plastic from looking like plastic, and PVC cladding isn’t much different. Though it might look pretty from a distance, closer looks will reveal the material’s synthetic nature.

So, while it may be tempting, we recommend investing a little more into composite cladding to get a result that triumphs in all of the same areas as PVC, but doesn’t suffer from the drawbacks.

At the end of the day, all that matters is that your home looks exactly how you want it to. Whether it’s for personal reasons or because you’re looking to increase the value, cladding is a great way to bring a bit of life back to your property. While there are plenty of cladding alternatives out there, we can’t help but be biased – composite cladding is by far the best choice. Created using a seamless blend of recycled plastic and timber fibres, composite cladding gives you plenty of application opportunities while remaining beautiful and robust.

Cladding doesn’t have to just be an aesthetic upgrade for your home; with composite cladding, you can invest in a functional cladding alternative that enhances both the kerb appeal and overall strength of any build. Aside from its resilience, NeoTimber® is the market’s most competitively priced composite cladding alternative – one that’s rich with colour choices and accessories to indulge in. If you’re considering doing up your home, why not start by ordering some free composite cladding samples from NeoTimber®? Or, how about reaching out to one of our experts? We’d be delighted to become a part of making your home beautiful again.