Ive got to clad some of a property I'm refurbing
I was thinking of local oak, feather edge , left to weather
planning will probably restrict it to feather edge

Anybody got any suggetions or advice
for the most sustainable option , cost efffiective and durablilty
how about sweet chesnut ?

I've not got much experience of anything other than treated pine youi get in every builders merchants, timber yard

thanks for your help


Jim

thanks I'll look into it
Any concern regarding the type of nails I'd need to use

Like the idea of long term durablity without treating
home growns good even if it lack the life expentency
Thanks

found these suppliers on the web search for anyone else who may be looking
http://www.benchmarktimber.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.vastern.co.uk/cladding.htm

Waney edge larch has the sapwood on, but can be hung with a big enough overlap that the sapwood can drop right off without leaving a gap. Fix with 50mm annular ring nails, and nail boards about 20-30mm down from the top edge so that the nail head is covered by the overlapping board above. Don't nail through two boards with one nail, or put two nails one above the other on the same board, or the wood will split as it shrinks. The waney edge won't be square to the face of the boards; hang the boards so that the wider face is outwards,if you see what I mean, to form a drip lip. The waney edge gives a rustic look, but straight-cut larch with no sapwood would be good vertically as well, either board-and-batten or equal size boards. But in that case, look at the growth rings as you fix it. As it dries, the boards will warp in such a way that the growth rings try to straighten out. You want the outside boards to warp convex and the inner ones to warp concave.
Hope the above all makes sense...

Sheradised, but I suppose if there were stainless annular ring nails in the Screwfix catalogue I would use them... That said, stainless is not so good unless mirror polished, and if it's rough and permanently damp it's worse again, so I'm not sure if ring nails would be good in stainless or not for the purpose. The galvanising tends to get damaged on the head when you knock them in, and at least that can't happen with stainless. The very best would be boatbuilder's phosphor bronze ring nails. Incidently, larch is traditional for clinker planking on workboats, for its strength and resistance to rot and abrasion.

It depends on the construction, and on the part of the boat. The topsides (above the waterline) are basically dry, and are normally painted, but do get wet, obviously; the underwater planking has got salt water outside and often a bit of bilgewater inside; and the external keel is always in salt water. The wet-dry cycle is bad for bits of wooden boats that were not made to withstand it, but ok if it was expected and designed for.
Clinker planking, which is what the larch got used for, is where the planks overlap like house cladding. It allows for the movement of the wood, so it's good for boats that are in and out of the water - beach-launched fishing boats, traditionally. I imagine that the timbers traditionally used were those that best withstood the wet-dry cycles, which supports the use of larch for external cladding.

Yes, they do rot, but the saying goes that they rot from the inside out. The inside bottom of a wooden boat - the
bilges - is often a damp, badly-ventilated place, wet with fresh water and not salt. Any spot that's not under water, but is not dry and ventilated, tends to rot. It seems to be permanent dampness that causes rot, not very wet / very dry cycles.
Old sailors used to throw handfuls of salt into inaccessible areas of their boats, to 'pickle' them. I have no idea if it worked. I have also read that North Sea cargo vessels, when new, would be sent on one trip to the Caribbean for sugar, so that the sugar residues that seeped down into the bilges would rot-proof them. Again, no idea if true, or if true, whether it worked. I gather that oak timbers from Viking vessels taken from the sea after 800 years or so are often completely black but still hard and sound.