Adding more living space? Consider horizontal or vertical planks to dress your new section’s exterior

Sarah Warwick 13 November 2017

Timber cladding has been a favourite covering for houses over centuries. Choose it for the outside of an extension to a home already clad this way, and it can make the new part feel as if it’s always been there. More often, though, using wood is a way of distinguishing the addition from the original home, ensuring the extension is striking or making it visually lighter than the house. Whichever route you’re thinking of taking, browse these timber-clad beauties first.

Stay natural
Finished in slim verticals of Scottish larch that have subtle detail, this dining room and study extension sympathetically joins the house to its terraced garden. It has a wildflower roof, too – an option to mull over if blending the new into the existing is high on your agenda.

Be modern – but sympathetic
A black timber finish on this rear extension makes it stand out, and there’s no mistaking that it’s a new structure added to a period home.However, choosing black makes it sympathetic to the surrounding charcoal slate roofs and black guttering, creating a pleasing harmony. Staggering the back wall to mirror the shape of the original house also helps the new-build section look at home.

Create clarity
The side return extension on this home shows how different a timber-clad addition can look from a structure in brick, seen on the neighbouring property.The benefit of timber cladding? It gives this extension a contemporary appearance and leaves the original house dominant, rather than blurring the distinction. It also avoids a finish sporting different-coloured bricks to its neighbour.How you can make the most of a side-return extension

Mix freely
Timber has the advantage of working compatibly alongside other materials in a new structure. Here, it clads the more enclosed part of the extension for a cocooning feel, with the other side glazed to allow plenty of light in and promote views.Notice how the slim, horizontal boards are echoed in the garden fencing that screens the terrace from the neighbour’s patch.

Grow to the side
The extension to this bothy helped turn it into a house. The timber cladding makes the side addition distinct from the original structure, but both exterior materials have a natural warmth that allows them to work together. The cladding also fits nicely with the building’s tree-filled setting.

Stain it black
Larch clads this rear extension, but this time it’s stained black, making the ribs strongly apparent, and the look is very textural.With polished concrete flooring producing high contrast, the black-and-white addition is definitely not shy and retiring. Even the garden fencing and decking have had a makeover in black larch to create consistency.

Bind together
This extension is clearly modern, but the boards of the red cedar cladding were chosen to match the size of the Victorian brickwork to tie the two together.If you like the idea of timber cladding silvering over time, follow this example by opting for an untreated wood that will allow the colour change.

Make a connection
The cladding on this extension was also used to update the original 1960s house. The black staining is inspired by the weatherboarding on West Sussex barns, and the cladding is insulating, boosting the home’s energy efficiency.Think about adopting the same tactic if your house could do with a 21st century makeover – timber cladding can break up a less-than-lovely façade.

Fill in
This two-storey extension between two end-of-terrace properties has a timber frame and a Douglas fir exterior together with a sedum roof, bringing a touch of nature to a town setting.It’s worth bearing in mind that a timber-frame, timber-clad addition makes less substantial foundations a possibility, which could save on build costs.

Go gently
Timber cladding can help even a sizeable extension make a fairly modest impression. This one adds two bedrooms, a kitchen/dining/family room and a utility area, but as it looks like a cabin, it doesn’t distract from the pretty cottage.As well as dividing old from new, the glass-sided link almost disappears from view, helping ensure the extension is subordinate to the house.