Colour variation

Effects

I've just had a new entrance gate clad in Siberian larch. Two of the panels are considerably darker than the rest. The builder said it's normal to have variation but it really sticks out. The house also has 30 sq. m of the same cladding and these two panels are the only ones this dark. I brought it to their attention before it was finished but they carried on anyway. They had ran out of timber anyway and had to get more to finish it. Who's in the right here? I'm not happy with the job but they seem to think it's fine.

kadman

While we can offer advice on timber related queries, we can do nothing about whether you
are happy with your builders workmanship, thats not what this forum is for.

Variation in timber related products is the norm. Its a living material, and each piece acts independently
from all other similar pieces. Thats why its interesting material, it has character, thats what distinguishes
it from composite man made materials.

If that was the main criteria of your brief, perhaps you should have chosen a man made composite
product that would all be identical.

As i said we wont be discussing who,s right or wrong in this instance, as it comes down to opinions,
we've all got them.

tabby aspreme

If the grain pattern and texture of the dark planks are similar to the rest the wood then it may just be heartwood from a very large tree . If you think it's a different type of timber that has been stained, then drill a small discreet hole, with a 2mm bit to see if the wood is the same color under the surface. Also the lighter colored planks will darken over time , though they will never be an exact match for two dark planks

Effects

The dark planks are less than 1% of the entire area. To me, it wouldn’t be a big issue to use timber closer in colour to the other 99% used.

For me it’sprobably another job I’ll have to rectify myself as some other tradesman took a lazy option.

recipio

Its bad craftsmanship pure and simple. Larch can have these colour variations but that's no excuse for using them. You could stain the whole gate a dark brown colour and hide the offending planks.

my3cents

I've felled a lot of larch in the UK and never seen that sort of colour variation. My guess is the too odd planks have been through a completely different preservation process.

Effects

recipio wrote: »

You could stain the whole gate a dark brown colour and hide the offending planks.

Staining the gate to match would mean it would be a different colour to the rest of the cladding on the house, so not an option for me.

my3cents wrote: »

My guess is the too odd planks have been through a completely different preservation process.

All the wood had preserver added at the supplier so nothing added on site.

I'll get them to change it. Harder to do now that they have finished it but I did call them on it beforehand.

Thanks for the replies.

my3cents

Effects wrote: »

Staining the gate to match would mean it would be a different colour to the rest of the cladding on the house, so not an option for me.



All the wood had preserver added at the supplier so nothing added on site.

I'll get them to change it. Harder to do now that they have finished it but I did call them on it beforehand.

Thanks for the replies.

What I am suggesting is the two odd planks came from a different source and where pressure treated or dipped differently. I know from experience you can't even rely on two batches of shiplap boards from the same yard to have the same profile.

It would be interesting to look at the cut end grain of the odd planks to see how deep that colour goes.

Edit> I'd like to see some close ups of the grain as it doesn't look much like larch to me? Also the timber on your picture with a dark edge should be rejected as it looks like its gone rotten in the stack after cutting due to being left out in the wet, it will be alright for now but will degrade quicker than it should.

Bonzo Delaney

Lazy workmanship no other words for it .
Whether it's the same timber or not you'd always try and keep some sort of continuity through out the sheeting. If there was one or two a completely different shade they'd be left aside