Should we treat timber cladding?

[Flymeaway4]

We're doing an extention, which will be clad in timber. We'd love western red cedar, but budget may dictate something cheaper (either alaskan yellow cedar or a thermally modified wood).

We were quite happy to let it weather naturally to silver/grey, mainly because I accept that with young kids it's unlikely we'll get around to treating it every few years to avoid it. However, we don't want it looking tatty either and the more I read, the more I'm worried it'll get insect damage, rot etc and just look a mess if we don't treat it.

Has anyone let their time weather naturally? Are you happy or do you wish you'd found the time to treat it every few years and keep it looking new?

our house has timber cladding about 10 years old. we've treated it about once in 8 years. if you don't treat it at all, it can rot and need replacing. it depends a lot on whether it gets wet (and stays wet).

i'm happy with the silver look but I think it does need something to stop damage.

There are lots of other rot proof cladding materials available which are maintenance free, some look like wood. I have wood Tudor boards on my house and they attract spiders and some have rotted and caused leaks.., and it's such a pain to deal with! It's all being replaced this year possible with rockwall or similar.

thanks everyone. I think we may need to come to terms with the fact we’ll need to maintain it somewhat!

If using cedar then treat it first before it’s fitted, something like woodoc or osmo. Then treat again after. It will still go the silvery grey colour but will take a lot longer to get to that stage if regularly treated. Cedar is a naturally oily timber and can withstand the weather here better than most species.

The reason to treat it is it to keep the mould away from forming on it,untreated cedar looks fine when it’s dry (silvery grey ) but when it’s wet ( untreated ) and the black mould starts to grow on it ,it looks awful. People think because it’s cedar it’s maintenance free, but the mould will slowly eat away at the wood layer by layer over time. I’d say once every couple of years is fine.

Thanks @Diyextension have you any experience of thermally modified timber (specifically, the Brimstone range by Vastern)? Does that still require treatment before and after fitting and every few years then onwards?