If the cladding on your Dersingham home is showing signs of damage or deterioration, acting early will save you significantly more than waiting until it fails completely.
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Exterior cladding is the outer protective layer fixed to the walls of your home. It keeps wind and rain away from the structural fabric of the building, adds insulation value, and gives the property a clean, finished appearance. When it fails - even partially - water can work its way behind the panels and into the wall itself, causing damage that costs far more to put right than the cladding ever would have.
We fit and replace exterior cladding for homeowners across Dersingham and the surrounding villages. Whether you have tired timber boards, cracked UPVC panels, or an older system that has simply reached the end of its life, we handle the full replacement from stripping the old material to fitting the new, leaving the site clean when we go.
Cladding problems rarely announce themselves dramatically. Most of the time the signs are gradual, easy to dismiss, and by the time they become obvious the damage behind the surface is already done. Knowing what to look for means you can act at the right moment rather than too late.
Timber cladding that has absorbed moisture over several seasons will start to bow outward or twist along its length. Individual boards may look slightly curved rather than sitting flat against the wall. This is not just cosmetic. A warped board has almost certainly let water past the face of the panel, and the fixings holding it to the wall may already be working loose as the wood swells and contracts through different seasons.
Timber splits along the grain when it dries out too quickly after being wet, or when the original finish has worn away and left it exposed. UPVC can also crack, particularly on south-facing or exposed elevations where panels heat up significantly in summer and then contract sharply in cooler weather. A crack in any cladding panel is a direct entry point for water.
If the surface coating is flaking off in large sections rather than fading gradually, the cladding underneath has almost certainly been wet. Paint and primer bond well to dry timber, but once moisture gets underneath the coating it lifts from the surface and cannot be simply repainted over without addressing the cause. Repeatedly painting over damp cladding delays the problem but accelerates the rot underneath.
Green algae and black mould growing on the face of cladding boards are common where north-facing walls stay damp for long periods. This staining is not merely unsightly. Algae holds moisture against the surface and accelerates the breakdown of both timber and softer UPVC materials. Dark streaking running downward from joints or fixings is often a sign that water is tracking along internal channels and leaking out further down the wall than you might expect.
Screws and nails that have rusted through or pulled out of the substrate leave boards able to move in the wind. A panel that flexes in and out as weather changes will eventually let wind-driven rain directly behind it. You might hear this as a knocking or rattling on a windy day before you can actually see daylight at the joint.
Where boards meet at corners, or where cladding meets window and door frames, there is usually a sealant joint or a cover strip. When sealant shrinks and cracks, or a cover strip has worked loose, a gap opens directly into the cavity behind the cladding. These gaps are small enough to miss at ground level but wide enough to admit water and, in older properties, pests. Running a hand along window surrounds in dry weather can reveal gaps that are invisible from a distance.
Understanding why cladding deteriorates helps you make a better choice when replacing it. The main causes come down to material choice, installation quality, and maintenance history.
Untreated or poorly treated softwood is the most common source of premature failure. Softwood used on an exposed elevation without adequate end-grain sealing and a durable finish will absorb water quickly and begin to rot at the fixing points within a few years. End-grain sealing - treating the cut ends of boards before they go up - is a step that is sometimes skipped on rushed jobs and makes a significant difference to how long the timber performs.
Inadequate ventilation behind the cladding is another frequent cause of trouble. Cladding systems are designed to have a clear air gap between the back of the board and the wall. This gap allows any moisture that does get in to dry out rather than sit against the structure. When this gap is blocked, or was never there, damp accumulates and the back face of the cladding rots from the inside without any external sign until the board is almost structurally compromised.
UPVC cladding fails for different reasons. The material itself does not rot, but the joints between panels rely on gaskets and interlocking profiles that can harden and shrink over time, particularly on elevations that see strong sunlight. Fixings corrode, and the foam backing tape used behind some systems compresses permanently and stops providing a weather seal. When UPVC cladding is fitted without allowing enough expansion gap at the joints, panels buckle in summer heat and the profile distorts permanently.
When it comes to replacement, homeowners have three main material choices. Each has a different profile, maintenance requirement, and price point.
As a rough guide, UPVC cladding installation in Norfolk currently runs in the region of £80 to £120 per square metre fitted, with composite materials typically ranging from £120 to £200 per square metre depending on the profile and thickness specified. Timber varies more widely depending on the species and finish chosen. These are installed prices covering supply, fitting, trims, and sealants.
Good cladding installation starts with the substrate. Before any new panels go on, the wall behind needs to be checked for damp, and any damaged render, masonry or timber battens need to be made good. Fitting new cladding over a wet or unstable substrate simply stores up the same problems for a few years down the line.
Battening out the wall to create the required air gap comes next. The battens need to be treated timber fixed at the correct centres for the cladding profile being used. Getting this right matters for how the boards sit on the wall and how they perform over time.
All cut ends of timber board should be sealed before installation. Joints need to allow for thermal movement without opening up gaps. Fixings should be stainless steel or hot-dip galvanised to resist corrosion, particularly given the damp conditions that cladding is exposed to in winter.
When choosing a contractor, ask specifically how they handle the substrate check, what batten specification they use, what fixings they specify, and how they seal the joints at window and door openings. These are the details that separate a cladding job that lasts from one that starts showing problems within two or three years.
If you have spotted any of the warning signs above, or if your cladding is simply old and tired, a survey of the elevation is a sensible next step. We will look at what you have, tell you what needs doing and why, and give you a clear price for the work before anything is agreed.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
