wooden cladding

[piper4346]

Can anyone give me some advice please, underneath my kitchen window on the outside is wooden cladding, but it has started to swell out and caused a bulge in the wood. What could cause this and would it be okay to replace this with Upvc cladding.

 

[pinenot]

Are you saying that the wooden cladding itself is swelling/bulging ? ...pinenot

 

[piper4346]

Yes its the wood cladding

 

[pinenot]

Right! first off you asked whether you could replace this with pvc cladding, yes is the answer but I for one wouldn't, and here's why. Some years back I was involved in replacing timber (ply panels) on some council owned prefabs out in the sticks of rural Bonny Dundee, there's no doubt they needed replacing. Gables off, the attic spaces were insulated and the procedure was meant to be building paper some additional framing then pvc cladding. The earliness of the year produced extremely low temperatures and high winds, the results! lots of snapped lengths of pvc cladding. the solution was to fit wbp 1/2" ply first, building paper to follow and finally the pvc cladding, white, fixed with white pvc capped ring shanked nails. Several years later in passing I noticed all the pvc had been replaced with timber cladding, asking, I learnt the pvc lasted a few years before splitting, breaking etc. and had to be replaced. Presuming your environment would not be so sever, you'd probably get a few more years than the above, but eventually they will have to be replaced, wood lasts for centuries assuming the maintenance is kept up...pinenot

 

[piper4346]

Thanks for your advice. I am just worried that the wood will split now and cause problems though and not sure what has caused this

 

[pinenot]

I'll guess the timber's both swollen and poss. cupped, try tapping them, are they sounding hollow? ...pinenot