Articles: Recommended and Cost-Effective Tongue and Groove Cladding

We recommend Tongue and Groove cladding because it has all of the weather protection you would expect with added security. The T&G fixing that the boards use means that it is more difficult to prise the boards apart to get inside.

Tongue and groove cladding is the ideal middle ground if you want to timber clad your structure and achieve a modern contemporary look. It’s less expensive than shiplap and does almost the same job with the main difference between the two being the lip that runs across the shiplap board. This helps to improve the water run-off slightly, however, we still recommend you use Tongue and Groove Cladding because it is more cost effective and the increased weather protection is marginal.

An advantage that T&G cladding has over the other forms of cladding is that it is more flexible, and most profiles can be fitted either horizontally or vertically. The exception to this rule for the standard profiles we supply is IWC5 which can only be fitted vertically.

Installing your Tongue and Groove Cladding

When installing your tongue and groove start with a breathable membrane which will be fitted to the interior wall of your building. Then fix softwood battens to your wall through the membrane which you will fix your cladding to. The need to be roughly 600mm apart and fixed in the opposite direction to your cladding. So, you if you are fitting your cladding horizontally, fit the battens vertically and vice versa.

Predrill your cladding to help prevent it from splitting and only use stainless steel nails or screws because they won’t be eroded by the natural tannins in the timber. On each row of cladding stagger the joins between the boards so that you don’t get an easily visible seem running along your cladding.

Once the timber has been installed it is possible for some of the tannins to leak especially if your tongue and groove cladding hasn’t been treated) and stain any sleepers, pavement or slabs around them. Naturally these tannins will be worn away however you can clean them using oxalic acid crystals as well (use them on a small are first to make sure you don’t damage the area you are clearing).