help with ideas to cover my new building please

[buddybutweiser]

H all, i have almost finished my wood framed 5m x 2.9m wood framed buliding. The exterior has only been cladded with planks of timber but to be honest it looks to much like a shed rather an extension to the house.
i am looking for ideas on how to make the outside look more like a building. someone mentioned hi-build but from what i can see on the net its only paint. Any ideas at all are most appreciated cheers

 

[noseall]

is it a house extension or a shed?

 

[buddybutweiser]

its an extension. as one 5m lengh is the house wall and the other 5m length is joined to a block wall i only need to cover the 2 ends

 

[oilman]

Surely it's either ok as it is, or if it was painted. If you didn't want it to look like it was built with a plank cladding, why finish it with er,........ plank cladding

 

[buddybutweiser]

used planks cause i was given a load for free one day and after scratching my head for a few days i decided to build the extension, added to that the fact that i cant bricklay to save my life it seemed like a good idea at the time. now its almost finished im not so sure. Dont get me wrong its not an eyesore but i was just wondering if there is anything on the market that might make it look a little more attractive.

 

[oilman]

Are they rough sawn planks or smooth, and if they are rough, were they treated and with what? What I'm getting round to, is, if they are reasonably smooth and you want them to not look like wood, they will look fine if painted, but to save yourself a lot of future maintenance, use linseed oil paint. If they are rough, go over them with a blowlamp to burn off the fibres then give a quick sanding. This will probably make them good enough for painting. Because I'm a lazy git, I'd leave them as wood, though that would be ok for oak, not for much else.

 

[buddybutweiser]

they are rough sawn and as far as i know they are only pressure treated.
i think i will do what oilman suggests but can i use filler to fill in between the laths or will it ruin it if the wood expands/shrinks as they get wet?

 

[oilman]

Filler? are the planks overlapped or butted together? Laths? where are they? Photo would be helpful.

 

[buddybutweiser]

 

[JohnD]

Without wishing to be needlessly rude, the rough sawn timber and the flopped-over roofing felt does make it look like a shed. You can treat this timber with a water-repellent stain as used for fences.

Also, the vertical boards will rot quite soon. Water will soak up the end-grain from the bottom. It would look neater with bargeboards and a sort of skirting trim.

I have a bit of horizontal shiplap cladding which I have stained with fence stuff and looks quite neat, but it is spaced away from the ground to avoid water.

 

[^woody^]

photo censored

and

I would suggest using the timber from that bench. Thats nice.

Also don't forget things like cills, cover strips, nosings, verges, gutter stop-ends/downpipes, brown silicone, DPC etc.

 

[buddybutweiser]

Cheers i have most of those bits here and they were next on the agenda but now im worried its gonna rot in no time, apart from ripping it all off and starting over any ideas how to stop the water soaking up the planks? maybe if saw 6 inches off the bottom and replace with something?

 

[JohnD]

yip. and soak the ends in cuprinol.

 

[buddybutweiser]

cheers john, i have some 2 inch thick by 8 inch planks. if i cut 8 inches from the bottom of the existing ones and fix the thick ones horizontaly along the bottom will that prolong the life of my "shed"

 

[masona]

Really need a sill which have a groove underneath preventing rain running into the building. You could rip down a old window cill or some timber merchant do sell them for repairing sill in a narrow section. Run a sealant on top when butting the sill to the glass, will need to do the side and top somehow, maybe another sill at the top and square timber down the side. Run a sealant on all the joints then maybe a flat timber moulding to cover it. The only problem is if the glass break, it won't be straight forward to re-glazed etc