Even if the garden house is well maintained and painted regularly, at some point the wood begins to weather and the house is no longer a beautiful sight. Penetrating moisture and cold create an unpleasant indoor climate and a musty smell spreads. Visually appealing cladding is also available for self-build garden houses made from OSB panels that are practical but not very attractive and also not weather-resistant.
How to dress up a garden shed?
A garden shed can be clad by using profiled boards, vinyl, artificial slate or other modern plastics. When cladding with profiled boards, you should make sure to attach them vertically or with the groove pointing downwards and to use larch wood to ensure weather resistance.
Before covering – remove damaged material
First, check all walls and remove any weathered boards. Insulation that has already become damp must also be removed and replaced with new insulation, otherwise there is a risk of mold. Attach new OSB panels over the insulation layer. Now we can start dressing up again.
Which materials are suitable?
There are various options available to you:
- Profiled boards are very popular because they are easy to process.
- According to the principle of the curtained, rear-ventilated facade, you can also cover the garden house with vinyl, artificial slate or other modern plastics.
Renovation with profiled boards is more beautiful because it looks more natural, and with a little manual skill it is completely uncomplicated to install. That's why we would like to limit our following instructions to these.
What needs to be taken into account?
- Always process profile boards outdoors vertically or with the groove pointing downwards. This means no water can collect.
- Work very carefully, because a vertical alignment will later be unattractive.
- When re-cladding, it is advisable to have an assistant available to align and fix the profile boards while you screw them together.
- Profiled boards made of larch wood are ideal. Be sure to let other types of wood in.
Is additional wood protection necessary?
You don't necessarily have to paint larch wood, as it is very resistant and weathers in a pretty shade of gray. Depending on the location in the garden, a colored coat of paint may look more attractive. If you decide on this option, always use special weather protection or facade paints (€28.00 on Amazon) for wooden base.
Procedure:
- Cut the vapor barrier foil from the roof or pull it tight and staple it to the OSE panels.
- Attach horizontal counter battens. The distance should not be greater than 65 centimeters.
- On the first board, saw off the groove and pre-drill the screw holes.
- Screw on vertically, leaving a centimeter of space for the roof formwork. This is important for rear ventilation.
- Attach the second and all subsequent boards.
- So that the tongue and groove do not splinter or even break, you should not fit the profile boards directly into each other with the batten hammer, but rather create a board section.
- Pre-cut boards to length on the windows and doors. Creating an even cutout after assembly is extremely difficult.
All profile boards are attached? Then, if desired, you can paint them with an insulating primer and then apply wood protection paint.
Tip
Shutters give the garden house a cozy look. You don't have to make these yourself, but you can use inexpensive slatted doors that you can also pre-treat with weather protection paint.