Out of timber? Look locally for cost effective alternatives

Locally grown timber species are well suited alternatives to exterior cladding, easier to get hold of, and cheaper too.

If you’ve tried to buy timber cladding recently, you’ll know that it’s in short supply. Costs for imported favourites, such as Canadian Cedar and Siberian Larch, have risen by 50-100% this year. The good news is that there is available stock of locally grown alternatives, which are well suited to exterior cladding, and are more cost effective too.

Native options, such as Western Red Cedar, Larch, Oak and Sweet Chestnut, are all naturally durable, making them excellent choices for timber cladding. At Vastern Timber, we use thermal modification (a toxin-free process), to transform locally grown Ash, Poplar and Sycamore into durable cladding called Brimstone®. This virtually knot-free, long-lasting, and cost-effective timber has become an increasingly popular alternative to imported hardwoods.

Brimstone Poplar was used as exterior cladding for an affordable housing scheme in Shropshire. Thanks to Poplar sourced from UK forests and transformed by thermal modification into long-lasting timber cladding, the houses sit comfortably in their rural British surroundings. The housing association commissioned leading Passivhaus and sustainable architects, Archetype, for the project. All UK sourced natural materials were used, including locally quarried clay roof tiles, local lime render and locally grown cladding from Vastern Timber.

Find out more about Vastern Timber’s range of locally sourced timber cladding products on our website. Call us on 01793 853 281 or email us at sales(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)vastern.co.uk with your timber cladding query.