What we fit
Flaking timber on the gable taken off and replaced with uPVC boards that hold their colour, fitted with the roofline around them.
uPVC cladding replaces the painted timber boards on a gable, a dormer or under a bay window with boards that never need painting. We fit uPVC cladding in Wakefield and 20 miles around, and we take the old timber cladding off first rather than fixing new boards over the top of it.
The house below is one of ours. Its gable was clad in timber that had lost nearly all its paint. It came off, and white uPVC went on, together with a new roofline.
Anywhere a builder wanted a panel instead of brick or stone. The usual places are the triangle of a gable above the top windows, as on the house above, the cheeks and front of a dormer, and the panel under or between bay windows.
All three have the same trouble. The boards are thin, they face the weather, and they are painted. Once the paint lifts, the wood takes on water, and a painted timber panel on a gable is one of the hardest bits of a house to keep up, because it is high and it is big.
What we found
Timber cladding across the gable with most of its white paint gone, and the timber bargeboards above it weathered the same way.
The old boards came off
Cladding, bargeboards and the timber roofline all came off the house. You can see the old boards stacked on the drive in our photos.
The gable was open
With the cladding off, the frame of the gable was there to see before anything new went on.
New uPVC cladding went on
White uPVC boards, fixed across the gable and finished neatly where they meet the brick and the window heads.
The roofline was finished
New boards, soffit and gutter, with an anthracite dry verge running down the gable above the new cladding.
uPVC cladding comes in a few shapes of board, and the shape is what you notice from the road. The two you hear about most are shiplap and open V. Swish, one of the UK makers, describes them in its cellular PVC cladding range:
Not every profile comes in every colour, and some only come in white. If you have a look in mind, or a neighbour's house you like, tell us when you ask for a quote and we will tell you what is possible.
| Shiplap | Open V | Tongue and groove | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it looks | Overlapping planks | Crisp V lines | Almost flat |
| Which way | Horizontal | Horizontal or vertical | Horizontal or vertical |
| Suits | Matching an older timber look | A sharper, more modern finish | A plain panel |
On most houses in England, no. The Planning Portal's guidance on cladding says cladding the outside of a house can come under permitted development, as long as the new materials look similar to what is already on the house. Swapping white painted timber for white uPVC boards is the sort of like-for-like change that guidance describes, though your council has the final say.
There are exceptions. In a conservation area, a National Park or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, you have to apply before cladding in plastic or timber. A listed building needs listed building consent. To check whether your street sits in a conservation area, Wakefield Council, or the council for wherever you live, can tell you.
Where the new cladding meets the brick and the window head.
How much does uPVC cladding cost?
Cladding is priced from the size of the panel and how high it is, so there is no set figure on our site. Tell us roughly where it is, with a photo if you can, and Richard will price it. The quote is free and there is no obligation.
If the roofline around the cladding needs doing too, our prices page shows what a whole new roofline starts from, and how we fit the boards and soffits is on our fascias and soffits page. The caps along the sloping edge of the roof above a gable are on our dry verge page. The whole cladding job is in the gallery on our before and after page, as "A timber gable, clad in uPVC".
It can be done, but it leaves the old boards on the house, and if they are wet or rotten they stay that way behind the new ones. On the job on this page the old cladding came off first, so the gable could be seen before the new boards went on.
No painting at all. There is no paint on it to flake. A wash with warm soapy water now and then keeps it clean, which is easiest to do at the same time as cleaning your windows.
It can. On the house on this page, the white cladding sits under white boards and soffit, so the whole gable reads as one finish, with the anthracite dry verge as the only dark line. If you would rather have contrast, that is a choice you make at the quote.
No. Permitted development rights apply to houses, not to flats or maisonettes, so a flat needs planning permission for changes like this. If you lease the flat, check the lease too, because the outside walls usually belong to the freeholder.
Nothing much. If something is fixed to the cladding, such as a satellite dish, a light or a sign, tell us when you ring, so it can be planned around. A photo of each side of the panel helps us price it.
Ring or WhatsApp Richard on 07835 889248, Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. A photo of the cladding from the ground is a good start. Or use our quote form.
Tell us a bit about the house. Richard will be in touch.
Free, no-obligation quotes. Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm.
