Hi, I have a 2 storey house, northern Melbourne, built 1980. It is clad with Cedar, shiplap, vertical. It has been painted but not well maintained.
The rear wall of the house faces south, has 6 windows in it and in their wisdom they decided to place the cedar on at 45 degrees. Looks great! Problem is, where the 45 degree joints impact windows water has got in and rotted away. This year I've started getting leaks in the windows and after an inspection today I realise I'm going to have to tackle this soonish (summer, warmer then).
I could reclad in cedar, prime, paint etc. Will take a long time and be tricky - the house is two storey. It will need painting again in probably 7-10 years.
Has anyone had experience with composite cladding? like this - http://www.permatimber.com.au/products/cladding/
Benefits are long life, no painting, 'eco-friendly' due to use of recycled materials.
Downsides are small colour choices, can't use half planks to finish edges (they have voids in them) and well, they might look like plastic!
I'd be open to other ideas, I'd prefer something low / no maintenance, planks might be better as this wall has so many windows and fussy bits that large sheets would be hard to handle.
I'd obviously prefer to use something with good environmental credentials.
Mark