North Walsham Roofers installs and replaces exterior cladding for homeowners in Stalham - and if you are waiting for a job to be scheduled, this page tells you what to do in the meantime.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Exterior cladding is a protective board system fitted to the outside of your walls. It keeps rain and frost away from the structure beneath, reduces draughts around window and door frames, and gives the property a clean finish. The main materials are timber, UPVC and composite boards, each with different costs, maintenance demands and expected lifespans. A proper installation includes removing the existing cladding where necessary, inspecting and preparing the wall beneath, fixing treated battens correctly, and sealing every joint and reveal before the job is handed back.
We carry out this work on homes across Stalham and the surrounding villages, including properties close to North Walsham. The process is the same regardless of the material chosen - what changes is the board profile, the fixing method and the ongoing maintenance the system will need.
Cladding work requires scaffolding for anything above ground-floor height, and scaffold erection needs to be planned around other jobs, weather windows and supplier availability. A cladding job cannot be rushed through without compromising the quality of the installation. If you have booked the work and are waiting for it to start, that is normal - and there are useful things you can do in the meantime, and some things you should definitely leave alone.
The period between booking the work and the team arriving on site is a good time to deal with a few practical things that will make the job go more smoothly and help you understand what to expect.
Scaffolding needs to go up close to the wall, and the team needs to move around the perimeter of the property. Clearing away any garden furniture, plant pots, bins, stored materials or anything else within a metre or so of the wall before the job starts saves time and avoids items being moved hastily on the day. If there are any large shrubs or climbing plants close to the wall, let the contractor know - some will need to be carefully tied back or, in rare cases, cut back to allow the scaffold to be erected and the work to proceed.
Before work starts is the right time to flag anything you have noticed - loose boards, a window reveal that has leaked, a corner that looks like it has been hit at some point. Write them down so you can pass them to the team on arrival. It is easier to build that into the scope of work before anything comes off than to ask for additional repairs once the job is underway.
If you have not yet committed to a material, the waiting period is a good opportunity to look at examples in the neighbourhood. Composite boards are becoming more widely used, particularly where homeowners want the look of timber without the painting schedule. Timber suits some properties well but it needs active maintenance to stay in good condition. Seeing how different materials weather over time on real properties is more useful than looking at brochure photographs.
Scaffold lorries are large, and access to the side or rear of a property is not always straightforward in Stalham and the surrounding area. If there is a gate, check the width. If the lorry needs to park on a public road, think about whether there is room and whether neighbours need a heads-up. Letting the contractor know about any potential access issues in advance avoids delays on the day the scaffold is due to go up.
This is the section that matters most if your existing cladding is already showing signs of failure. There is a strong temptation to try and deal with the obvious problems yourself while you are waiting - and in most cases, that makes the job harder and sometimes more expensive.
Cladding boards are fixed to battens, and the battens are fixed to the wall. Attempting to pull off boards that are loose or failing can split the board, damage the batten, and in some cases pull the batten fixings partly out of the masonry. The contractor needs to see the boards as they are to assess the full extent of the damage correctly. If a board is hanging loose and poses a safety risk, contact the contractor rather than trying to deal with it yourself.
If you have noticed a gap around a window reveal or at a joint that you want to protect from rain while you wait, it is understandable to want to do something. However, decorator's filler is not waterproof and will not bond properly to exterior surfaces. Expanding foam, if pushed into a gap, can force boards further apart, makes clean removal by the contractor more difficult and may trap moisture rather than keeping it out. If water is actively getting in through a gap and causing damage inside the property, call the contractor and explain the situation - they may be able to arrange a temporary fix or bring the job forward.
Painting over cladding that has already failed - particularly timber that is damp or starting to rot - traps moisture beneath the new coat and accelerates the deterioration. If the surface looks bad enough that you want to cover it up, that is a sign the material needs replacing, not painting. Any painting done over failing boards also means the contractor will need to deal with the paint at removal, which adds time.
A common instinct before any trade arrives is to tidy things up. With cladding, a pressure washer used at the wrong angle or pressure can drive water behind boards and into the batten zone. If the existing system is already compromised, this can make the moisture situation significantly worse in a short time. Leave the cleaning to the team as part of the job.
A cladding job on a typical semi-detached or detached house usually takes between two and five days depending on the size of the property, the material chosen and the prep work required on the wall. Scaffold will normally go up the day before or on the morning the job starts. Expect some noise during removal of the existing boards and drilling for the new fixings.
During the job, ask the team to show you the wall surface once the old cladding has come off - before the new boards go on. That is the point at which any issues with the substrate can be discussed and dealt with, and it avoids any questions later about what was found beneath the old material.
Exterior cladding prices depend on the material, the height and the condition of the substrate. Composite boards sit at the higher end of the materials range - around £120-£180 per square metre installed - while UPVC and treated timber tend to be less expensive upfront. Any repairs required to the wall beneath the old cladding are costed separately once the existing boards are off and the wall can be inspected properly.
If you are comparing quotes, make sure each one includes stripping the old cladding, disposal, batten replacement where needed and scaffolding. A quote that omits any of these will not represent the actual final cost.
North Walsham Roofers covers Stalham and the nearby area from our base in North Walsham. If you want to discuss what a cladding job would involve on your property, or you have questions about the material options, call us to arrange a site visit and a clear, itemised quote.
No obligation · We'll call you to arrange a free visit
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
