Cambridge Roofers provides exterior cladding installation and repair for homeowners in Godmanchester, and this page tells you exactly what you can do before we arrive - and what you should not attempt yourself.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
Exterior cladding is a protective outer skin applied to the walls of a building. It keeps the underlying structure dry and well-insulated, and it affects how the property looks from the outside. The main material choices for residential buildings are timber, composite, fibre cement, and metal - each with its own fixing method, maintenance needs, and cost profile.
When cladding fails or is damaged, homeowners are often left with a visible problem on the outside of their property and an anxious wait for a contractor to come and look at it. This page explains what you can usefully do in the meantime, and which actions are likely to make things worse.
The problems that most often lead homeowners to call for help fall into a few clear categories. A board or section has come loose or blown away in wind. There is visible rot or splitting in timber boards. Water has started appearing on an internal wall after rain. Paint has peeled away and bare timber is exposed. A trim or corner piece has come away from the wall, leaving a gap. Algae or black mould has spread across a large area of the elevation.
In most of these cases there is a short window between identifying the problem and the damage getting worse. Knowing what can be done safely without specialist tools or equipment - and what cannot - is genuinely useful.
There are practical steps that are within reach of most homeowners without any special equipment or expertise.
Document the damage clearly. Take photographs from ground level in good daylight - wide shots showing which elevation and where on the building the problem is, and close-ups showing the detail. If the damage is weather-related, note the date and conditions. This helps any contractor understand the problem before they visit and means you have a record if the damage is covered by a home insurance policy. Check your policy wording - some storm damage claims require evidence that the building was in good repair beforehand.
Check gutters and downpipes above the affected area. A blocked or leaking gutter is one of the most common causes of accelerated cladding deterioration, because water repeatedly saturates the boards below it. If you can safely reach the gutters from the ground or from a low stepladder, clearing a blockage or spotting an overflowing joint is a useful first step. Do not attempt this from a roof or from an extending ladder at height - that is contractor territory.
Move stored items away from the wall. If there are bins, garden furniture, or stored timber stacked against the cladding, move them. Objects leaning against cladding boards trap moisture, restrict airflow, and can physically damage the board surface. A damp bay caused by a wheelie bin sitting against the wall for two years is a common discovery during a site visit.
Note which direction the affected elevation faces. A north-facing wall in shade for most of the day will have different problems from a south-facing one that dries quickly. This context helps with diagnosis and informs the choice of material if any replacement is needed.
Clear access for the site visit. If the affected area is behind a gate or behind a garage, make sure there is clear access. A surveyor or installer who cannot get close to the wall will not be able to give you a reliable assessment.
This section matters as much as the one above. A number of apparently logical responses to cladding problems can make things worse, create safety risks, or complicate the professional repair.
Do not attempt to re-fix loose boards from a ladder at height. Cladding boards that have come away from the wall at first-floor level or above need scaffold or a platform to work from safely. Balancing on an extending ladder while trying to drive fixings into the wall or lift a board back into position is a serious fall risk. This is not a hyperbolic warning - falls from ladders are one of the leading causes of serious injury in DIY accidents in the UK each year.
Do not use expanding foam to seal gaps. Polyurethane expanding foam is sometimes used to fill gaps at window reveals or along board edges where a trim has come away. It looks like a quick fix but it causes several problems. Foam is not UV-stable and degrades to a yellow crumbling mass within a couple of seasons. More importantly, it seals off the ventilation gap behind the boards that allows moisture to dry out. Trapping moisture behind cladding accelerates rot in timber systems and creates damp problems in the wall cavity.
Do not paint over cracked or peeling areas without preparing the surface. Applying fresh paint directly over paint that is peeling or chalking will not bond. The new coat will lift with the old one within a few months. Proper preparation involves scraping, sanding, priming bare timber, and then applying a compatible top coat. Painting over a damaged area to make it look better before a surveyor visits also hides the extent of the problem and makes accurate diagnosis harder.
Do not lever off boards to investigate behind them. If you suspect water is getting behind the cladding, the temptation is to open the system up and look. Timber cladding boards are fixed in a specific way - removing one without knowing the fixing detail often damages the board and the one below it. Featheredge boards overlap, and pulling one away can split the board beneath. Leave investigation to someone who knows the fixing system and has the right tools.
Do not apply external sealant along the bottom edge of boards. The bottom edge of a cladding board is intentionally left open or vented to allow any water that gets behind the system to drain out. Sealing it looks logical but blocks the drainage path and can cause water to pond behind the boards.
If a significant section of cladding has been lost in a storm and the wall behind it is exposed, a breathable weatherproof sheet or heavy-duty tarpaulin fixed carefully over the affected area is a reasonable temporary measure while you wait for a professional visit. The key word is temporary - tarpaulins that are not properly secured can themselves cause damage in wind, and they should not be left in place for more than a few days.
If the exposure is at height and you cannot fix a sheet safely from the ground, leave it and inform your insurer. Most home insurance policies include emergency cover for sudden storm damage, and the insurer may be able to arrange emergency boarding or temporary protection as part of the claim.
Once a contractor is on site, the conversation will turn to what needs repairing, and possibly what material to use if replacement is involved. When choosing a material, timber featheredge suits traditional buildings, composite suits low-maintenance residential use, fibre cement suits fire performance and dimensional stability, and metal suits contemporary or commercial applications.
Repair costs for localised damage start from around £200 to £500 for a small section at ground floor level, rising with access requirements and the area affected. Full replacement of a house elevation runs from roughly £50 per square metre for treated softwood timber through to £180 or more per square metre for fibre cement or metal, installed. Insulation within the build-up adds cost but improves thermal performance meaningfully.
If you have a cladding problem at your property in Godmanchester or a nearby village, the most useful thing you can do right now is call Cambridge Roofers to arrange a proper look at the wall. We can tell you whether you are dealing with a surface repair, a board replacement, or something that needs a more involved response. Call us to book a site visit and get a clear picture of what the job actually involves.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
