The closest you’ve come to your wall cladding is probably last time you were cleaning your guttering. However, like with all external features of your home, your wall cladding may occasionally need maintenance or even full replacement – which can of course be performed by a professional. If you’re a keen DIY enthusiast, however, you might fancy a go yourself, in which case you should consider the following.
Your external wall cladding should be positioned horizontally which will enable rainwater to flow easily off your wall, note that this doesn’t completely eliminate water retention. However it is a lot more effective than vertical mounting the plastic wall cladding. Also, any joints or fittings should also be out of the way of the rain, which will help to limit rust or weather damage further.
For timber cladding, there should ideally be a vapour barrier fitted between the “battens” (strips of wood onto which the cladding is attached) and the actual building, this will help prevent water absorption, which could lead to extensive damage down the line. For plastic cladding, it is possible to either attach it straight onto the wall, or for a more “aesthetic” quality it can too be fastened to timber battens.
When choosing a cladding material, you might consider the following: although traditional timber cladding may have the edge of plastic wall cladding in terms of aesthetics, plastic pieces will afford better functionality combined with easy maintenance.
