Is Composite Weatherboard Cladding Better Than Timber?

Composite weatherboard cladding is a more long-life alternative to traditional timber, and offers more colour and texture options.

When looking to add cladding to the exterior of your property, composite weatherboard cladding is the ideal choice. Though timber remains an incredibly popular design choice, it is not able to perform to the same high standards as composite material. Moisture-resistant, long-life, low maintenance, and available in a range of different colours and textures, it's of little wonder more and more suppliers are specifying composite weatherboard cladding instead of other alternatives. In this article, we will explore how composite weatherboard compares to timber cladding, to help you to make the smart decision for your residential property or business space.

How Does Timber Perform?

Timber cladding imbues a real sense of naturalistic design flair, and can help the shell of your building space look far more visually interesting. However, these advantages are often short-lived. As a natural material, timber can become damaged due to the effects of weathering, along with colour fading due to prolonged exposure to sunlight. Though some timber cladding is pre-treated with preservatives, these tend to be on the more expensive side of the price range. Many designers specify timber cladding because it is often cheaper than composite weatherboard from its initial installation. While this is true, it is important to consider composite weatherboard cladding as more of an investment. Rotten, faded cladding that appears to be falling apart will need to be replaced, at some time and cost. In contrast, all of NeoTimber's composite weatherboard options are extremely long-life, backed up with our unbeatable 25-year residential warranty, and 10-year commercial warranty. 

A More Long-Lasting Improvement

Beyond its longevity, there are also design advantages to specifying composite weatherboard cladding over timber cladding. Timber cladding can be any colour you choose, though you will have to likely manually paint it yourself, a process that is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. Composite weatherboard, in comparison, can be purchased in one of five distinct colours; antique, teak, charcoal, grey, and chocolate. Both chocolate and teak can help you retain the natural look of real timber cladding, whereas charcoal, grey, and antique give you a more modern, attention-grabbing alternative. Furthermore, our cladding range of composite weatherboards gives you the option of three separate textures. The Classic range has a subtle, sanded, feel, whereas the Deluxe range is etched with a realistic woodgrain pattern. Finally, the Slatted range is designed to look like stacked, timber battens, helping you to maintain that traditional cladding aesthetic, but for far longer. We hope this answers your question, that yes, for our money, composite weatherboard cladding is a far better choice than good old timber cladding.