Brandon Roofers installs and repairs exterior cladding for homeowners in Swaffham, protecting walls from the elements and giving properties a clean, lasting finish.
Exterior cladding is a layer of material fixed over your existing wall surface. It creates a weather-resistant barrier that keeps rain, wind and frost out of the wall structure beneath. Done well, it also improves the appearance of a property and can reduce heat loss through exposed walls.
We fit timber, composite, and fibre cement cladding on houses across Swaffham and the surrounding area. Each material has different strengths and suits different budgets, but all three are installed using the same basic principle: a ventilated cavity between the cladding and the wall, so moisture can escape rather than becoming trapped.
This is the angle most homeowners miss. Cladding problems rarely appear dramatically. They build up slowly, and by the time they are obvious, damage to the wall behind is often already under way. Knowing what to look for means you can act early, before a repair job becomes a replacement job.
Timber boards split when they repeatedly absorb moisture and then dry out. This is a natural process that accelerates when the factory finish or site-applied coating has worn thin. Fine surface cracks in the wood grain are normal on older installations, but deep splits that run across the full width of a board allow water in behind the face. Once water sits against the timber, rot follows.
Fibre cement boards can crack along fixing points if the wrong fixings were used, or if the boards were not given enough expansion gap when they were first installed. Temperature changes cause all cladding materials to expand and contract slightly, and boards that were butted too tightly together will eventually crack at the joints or push fixings loose.
Movement in the frame or subframe behind the cladding can cause boards to shift. When a gap opens between boards or at the corners, it becomes a direct route for water to enter. Even a gap of a few millimetres is enough for driven rain to work its way in. Check these joints after a period of wet and windy weather, when movement is greatest.
Green or black staining on the face of cladding is usually algae or mildew. On its own, surface staining is not structural, but it signals that moisture is sitting on the surface longer than it should. This often means the coating has failed, drainage is not working as designed, or the profile of the board is trapping water rather than shedding it.
Dark patches behind a joint, or at the base of a board run, can indicate that water is tracking down inside the cavity. This is a more serious sign and warrants a closer look at the cavity drainage detail.
Boards that bow outward have usually taken on moisture from the back face. This happens when the ventilated cavity has become blocked, or when the moisture-resistant membrane behind the cladding has failed. Composite and fibre cement boards are less prone to this than untreated timber, but it can still occur if fixings are over-driven or if water has pooled at a low point.
Rust streaks running down from screws or nails are a reliable indicator that the wrong fixings were used. Cladding must be fixed with stainless steel or hot-dip galvanised fixings. Standard zinc-coated screws will rust within a few years in exposed conditions, and the rust staining is not just cosmetic. As the fixing corrodes, it loses grip, and the board can work loose over time.
Most cladding failures come down to one of three root causes: poor initial installation, inadequate maintenance of finishes, or a fault in the detailing where the cladding meets another element of the building.
The junction between the cladding and the roof line is particularly important. If the cladding runs up close to the soffit or fascia without a proper head flashing, water dripping from the roof can run back behind the top edge of the cladding. Similarly, where cladding meets window frames, the sill detail needs to be watertight. A common problem on older installations is that these junction details were sealed with mastic alone, and once that mastic cracks or pulls away, water finds a path in.
Guttering faults make cladding problems worse. An overflowing or leaking gutter above a clad wall will drench the top boards repeatedly, accelerating wear far beyond what normal rainfall would cause. If you are seeing staining or deterioration concentrated on one section of a wall, check the guttering above it first.
Before we quote for any repair or replacement, we look at the full picture: the boards themselves, the fixings, the cavity detail, the junctions with the roof, windows and doors, and the guttering above. There is little point replacing damaged boards if the cause of the damage is not addressed at the same time.
We use a moisture meter to check whether boards that look intact on the surface have already taken on water. Boards that are wet internally are not always visibly distorted yet, but they will deteriorate faster and should be replaced rather than re-coated.
Not all failing cladding needs to come off completely. Where the problem is limited to a section of wall, individual boards can often be replaced and the surrounding area re-finished to match. Fibre cement in particular is straightforward to cut and patch, and the colour can be matched reasonably well with a topcoat.
Timber cladding that has been well maintained can last for many decades, but once rot has set into multiple boards across a large area, a full re-clad is more cost-effective than ongoing patching. Composite cladding, which uses a blend of wood fibre and plastic, is more resistant to rot and moisture than natural timber and typically requires less maintenance over its life.
Cladding costs vary considerably depending on the material chosen, the height of the walls, access requirements and the condition of the substrate. As a general guide, fibre cement cladding on a typical semi-detached home runs from around £80 to £130 per square metre fitted, including boarding, battens and fixings. Composite cladding sits at a similar level. Timber is usually slightly lower in material cost but may require more preparation work and future maintenance. These figures exclude scaffolding where that is needed.
Because we are roofers as well as cladding installers, we handle the work where cladding meets the roof without needing to bring in a separate trade. This includes replacing or realigning fascias and soffits where they are involved in the cladding detail, fitting or repositioning guttering to suit the new cladding profile, and making good the flashing at the head of the cladding where it meets the roof.
Any installer should be able to answer these questions clearly before work starts. If the answer to the fixing question is "standard screws" or "whatever we have on the van", that is worth probing further.
If you have noticed any of the warning signs above, or if your cladding is approaching the age where finishes typically start to fail, call Brandon Roofers to arrange a roof and cladding survey. We cover Swaffham and the surrounding villages, and we will give you a straight assessment of what needs doing and what can wait.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
