What to know when assessing your home cladding

The cladding on your home is, in essence, to keep the outsides out and the insides in. What materials you choose for the exterior cladding of your home has a major impact on many important factors such as insulation, earthquake bracing and of course the look and feel of your home. Let’s break it down a bit to better understand the variety of materials.

Roof Cladding:

Roof Cladding is generally broken up into 1 of 2 categories; heavy or light.

Heavy roof cladding is materials such as:

  • Concrete
  • Clay tiles
  • Slate
  • Stone


Light roof claddings are commonly materials such as:

  • Aluminum or copper sheet steels
  • Metal tiles
  • Asphalt or Fibreglass shingles
  • Sheet membranes on plywood sheets


Wall Cladding:

Wall Cladding is broken up into 3 groups; heavy, medium and light-weight. Superhome recommends that the best option for wall cladding is to choose a light-weight material,  for better earthquake resilience. However, the one perk to opting for a heavy-weight cladding option, such as concrete and brickwork, is reduced maintenance as compared to many light-weight materials.

Light-weight Cladding options can include:

  • Weatherboard Claddings made of timber, fibre-cement, PVC or aluminum
  • Metal claddings
  • Plywood and fibre-cement sheet and panels
  • Strip timber
  • Corten steel panels


 For our eco-conscious homeowners, we have collated a few of our favourite eco-conscious cladding options…

  • Fibre-cement. Because of the materials used to create fibre-cement; wood pulp, sand, and cement, it creates far fewer toxins when it eventually is destroyed. It also means no cutting down trees and plastic manufacturing. However, there is a higher embodied cost with the cement component and onsite wastage. The protection and bonding are done with silica due to the removal of asbestos, and this is known to be hazardous.
  • Yakisugi wood. If you’re looking for something visually striking and eco-conscious Yakisugi wood is definitely something to be considered. Because of the unique flash-firing process, that the wood goes through it deters rot and actually lasts a lot longer than many other exterior options.
  • Stucco cement. Stucco cement is at first glance a similar compound creation to traditional cement as they both contain concrete, water and sand. However, stucco cement also contains lime. The major difference between these two materials is that once dry, Stucco is more breathable and actually contains tiny pores that allow moisture to escape. This helps prevent moisture build-up and rot, making your house that much more durable. The flip side to this is that in the NZ climate, it must be regularly painted to meet its waterproofing properties.


If you are thinking about your next home-build and unsure what material is best suited to you and your needs, reach out to us, we would be CLADD to help.

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