Accoya Wood Cladding vs Cedar Which one is best in your project?

When it comes to selecting the timber to use on the exterior of your building, it is not a decision you want to make a mistake on. The choice is permanent and that is so to say. Cedar has long been the favourite, that warm honey colour appearing on a range of garden offices to complete house renovations. Then there is the Accoya that looks like it was in a chemistry lab but has been causing serious ripples in the construction industry.

Why is Cedar so popular?

The smell of cedar is wonderful to cut. That is not really a pragmatic consideration, but it is when you are dealing with it. Cedar has a unique smell, which is provided by the natural oils in it and does the heavy work in regard to rot resistance. The Western Red Cedar, in particular, has been in use since the ages. Native Americans of North America constructed entire buildings using it that remain to this day.

When untreated the wood turns a silvery grey. Some people love that look. When others first find their golden coating becoming ashen they panic and rush out to purchase stain. Cedar can be easily worked with and this is valued by the contractors. Mostly you can nail into it without pre-drilling. It cuts cleanly. It is no wonder that builders turn to it automatically.

However, here is what most suppliers will not tell in the beginning. Cedar varies. A lot. The heartwood works in an entirely different way as compared to the sapwood. The same supplier may supply you boards on different days and they may not weather in the same rate. That contradiction can make you insane when you are specific with the appearance of things.

How Does Accoya Compare?

Accoya Wood Cladding is derived out of sustainable pine which has undergone a procedure known as acetylation. It is a fancy name of changing the wood on a molecular level. The process alters the water uptake process of the timber making it unbelievably stable. It does not decrease or increase in size like normal timber with change of weather.

Stability in the dimensions is truly magnificent. Board gaps remain board gaps. You do not have the cupping or warping which may occur with other timbers following a wet winter. To anyone who has seen his beautiful cladding go waving and cracking with age, that permanency is almost too good to be true.

Accoya Wood Cladding also accepts paint and stain more than cedar. The surface remains uniform and therefore your finish is applied evenly and has a longer duration. You are looking at repainting ten years or so instead of five. When you put that into the cost of scaffolding and labour, that is a lot.

Does Durability Really Matter?

Cedar will live twenty or thirty years provided you take good care of it. That is, cleaning it, treating it, maintaining on any splits that arise. Lose a couple of years of upkeep, and everything is going to go down the drain at a rate that you did not anticipate. It is especially weak in the sapwood areas.

Accoya Wood Cladding is supplied with a warranty of fifty-year above the ground. Five decades. It is not marketing nonsense either, the acetylation process does make it more resilient than most hardwoods. It will not be touched by insects as they will have nothing in there to eat. Rot finds it difficult to find a foothold since the wood does not retain water in such a manner.

What of the Environmental Side of It?

Cedar forests require time to regenerate. Old-growth cedar is becoming more ethically hard to find. The cedar is now generally of managed forests, and this is preferable, but it takes sixty years or more to grow the trees to harvest size.

Accoya is made of radiator pine which is FSC certified. Pine is fast growing and it reaches maturity within a span of twenty five years. The acetylation process involves the use of acetic acid which is produced by transforming wood chips – which is basically the conversion of waste into a valuable resource. The process is non-toxic. No lead, no mercury, no hideous chemicals that are in the timber that is pressure-treated.

Will It Be Right on Your Building?

It is more of a matter of taste than technical. That immediate visual warmth Cedar possesses. It photographs beautifully. It has a reason why it is so extensively covered in every architectural magazine. The grain also comes out well even when staining the grain.

There is a less pronounced grain pattern in Accoya Wood Cladding. Some people find it too plain. There are others who like the cleaner appearance. It accepts dark stains especially well to give you that Scandinavian black cladding look with none of the maintenance headaches that it is typically associated with.

The texture differs too. The cedar is coarse to your touch, more natural. Accoya is less rugged, more sophisticated. They are not better than each other, they are just different.

Price Differences You Should be aware of.

Cedar costs less upfront. That is its primary selling point on a low-end basis. You will pay between £30-£50 per square metre to get decent quality boards.

Accoya Wood Cladding is expensive at £70-£90 per square metre. The initial difference in price burns. But pay the cost over fifty years, rather than twenty-five, and allow less maintenance, and the figures begin to appear different. You are now paying higher to save in the long term. That will depend on the duration of time you want to hold the property and the budget you have at the moment.