Fibre cement cladding could be viewed as a fairly homogenous building material. This versatile and durable building material is made of Porland cement, cellulose, sand, synthetic fibres and water, allowing for strong and high-performance cladding. But there are vital variations between products on the market.
When assessing the pros and cons of different facade products it’s important to look at the whole-life performance. While off the shelf price is one consideration, it’s also valuable to take a step back and think about the practicalities of installation, colour choice, aesthetics, maintenance and a product’s environmental credentials.
Look and feel
Fibre cement cladding boards are generally designed to give the appearance of natural wood, providing resilience against the weather without the associated costs of painting and long-term maintenance. However, while Cedral uses high grade metal moulds to create the intricate grain effects, some manufacturers use a plastic equivalent that doesn’t provide the same realistic definition. While an attractive woodgrain effect is popular on cladding projects, it’s important too to select a product that offers a smooth alternative in case you want a flush, contemporary look.
Colour is another huge variant when it comes to facade choice. Natural colours are very much in vogue now. Cedral spent a lot of time researching homeowners’ and developers’ attitudes to colour and understand how more informed conversations about colour can win or lose projects. We now offer a range of 21 different hues, grouped into four colour collections that specifically relate to different lifestyles which are inspired by the world around us.
Technical considerations
Details such as water absorption, insulation properties and plank coverage are important questions to consider.
Measured by something called the PIS test, water absorption is obviously a key performance factor when looking at alternative fibre cement cladding – the lower percentage score indicates better resistance to rain and weathering. We recommend cladding boards with a score of 25% or below within the upper performance quartile. Manufactured to EN 12467, Cedral achieves the highest category for weather resistance, meaning it can be used externally for rainscreen facades.
Board thickness is perhaps easier to assess when comparing competing fibre cement planks. Cedral facades are a robust 12mm thick, making them studier than most. In practice, installers tell us that this leads to fewer breakages on site – so much less wastage.
Installation time
When comparing different fibre cement cladding planks, the practicalities of installation do not come first to mind as critical. However, tests we have carried out in this area have highlighted some fascinating results.
Ease and speed of installation is often hard to quantify when comparing different cladding products, but this is one area where the small variations have a massive effect. Unlike most other fibre cement products, Cedral employs both nails and clips, depending on the type of plank used (Lap and Click respectively). This gives installers a huge amount of options when it comes to installing cladding, whether it’s a sleek ‘no nails’ finish or the more traditional fixed aesthetic using colour matched screw heads.
When we tested Cedral Lap against its nearest competitor, we observed that our system was 34% quicker to install, using a configured test module comprising two adjoining walls (2.1m in height) which included a window. When we did the same test using Cedral Click, this came in at 13.5% quicker than the nearest competitor.
When you translate this into profit on the job, it worked out that both our Lap and Click products made significant savings (based on an industry average hourly labour rate), compared to the nearest competitor brand tested.
Why is there such a big difference? Unlike most other planks on the market, Cedral does not require painting board edges once they’ve been cut. Secondly, the length of our planks (3600mm) means that the competitor product we tested against required one extra plank per level, adding more time onto the job. Looking at our Click products, these performed well as they slide into position easily (due to their high precision manufacture) – making installation very efficient. Cedral’s tough coating also minimises the need for retrospective touching up, which was needed on the competitor products.
Sustainability and environmental impact throughout the product’s life
Housebuilders are increasingly judging materials on how they comply with the new Future Homes & Buildings standards. To minimise damage and waste, it is important to look at the packaging used to transport planks to site. Ours strike a balance between minimising packaging, while protecting the boards in transit – meaning that damaged products are a rarity for us. Other brands we looked at used minimal, poorly designed packaging that gave little defense against scruffs or broken planks.
Traceability is another important aspect that installers need to consider. Without clear batch numbers and date of manufacture, it’s difficult to understand more about the DNA of a product, its composition and its supply chain journey. The distance from manufacturing site to project location is a key statistic that environmentally aware customers are asking about.
The Cedral brand is within the Etex Group and since 2021 Etex has been awarded an EcoVadis Silver Medal for its commitment to sustainability and responsible business practice. By 2030, as part of our Road to Sustainability, Etex aims to use a minimum of 20% of circular input as raw material, reduce its landfill waste to zero, use 100% recycled packaging and offer 80% of its European markets a product take-back service.
Cedral Sidings products are BBA certified and have been CCPI assessed and certified.
Cedral’s UK technical team is available to support specifiers throughout the process. Visit https://www.cedral.world to explore the full Cedral range and to access the dedicated Professionals hub which offers a material calculator and a full document library covering datasheets, installation guides, BBA certificates and sustainability information.