Timber-cladding a concrete shed - dealing with gutters, etc?

Hi folks.

I have a concrete shed at the bottom of the garden. It has two windows, a double-door entry, flat felt roof and gutters. Water drains off the roof to the front of the shed (ie; the gutters are on the front to take the water away).

I've only one half-decent photo of it with the felt roof (which was recently changed from a steel one), which is here, along with two other random photos, as they're the best i can find on my PC of the front of the shed:




More:


https://i.postimg.cc/0jK3Lvks/20160322-151735.jpg


https://i.postimg.cc/L4q8HZhH/20180514-211525.jpg


(unfortunately, in every photo, the garden has a load of sh/te stacked in it )

Anyway, the shed is looking a little dated, and the back of our house has been renovated/extended in the last 4-5 years, and looks a bit more modern now. So I was thinking of attempting to freshen the face of the shed up a bit, by sticking some vertical 2x1 on it, and calling it timber clad to sound fancy.

Kinda like this sorta thing, except much rougher, cheaper and clearly DIY'ed by a chancer:




https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3d/6b/6d/3d6b6d5f4868803992a4f05ad306061c.jpg



I'm happy enough that i can figure out the basics of it, however, what is throwing me off is the gutter on the shed. It's a bulky enough gutter (albeit, I'm happy enough with that, where gutters are concerned I much prefer practical over pretty).

I appreciate I can stick four inch thick horizontal posts along the shed, to stick my vertical battens to (effectively pushing my 'fence' four inches away from the shed itself), and by doing this I could possibly bring the timbers up above the gutter any hide it altogether (which is appealing), however, at the same time, I don't know if having a large 'dead space' between the timber and shed might look a bit daft and make getting into anything that falls behind the timber more difficult, along with cleaning/maintenance, etc.

The gutter itself is all over the place, and needs to come down and be put back up again with a proper fall on it, but as it's a gutter, it obviously has to sag to one side, so I'd rather avoid trying to meet the timber/gutters together, as the timber will have to be cut to 'fall' with the gutter, and may look a bit off (and require a LOT of patience to cut right, without looking shlte).


Just wondering if anyone has any better, more obvious ideas?

Also, can anyone recommend a timber for this? It won't be painted, but will be stained, more than likely, and will obviously be outdoors. I have the luxury of a timber yard about 10 minutes away, so I could just ask them, but they may push me towards more expensive stuff that I don't need.



Cheers for any advice, and a round of applause to you if you managed to read it all.

listermint

Run your timber up the the soffet board. You don't have to do anymore. Gutter can stay as is untouched. Could replace it with something modern if you liked.

awec

Agree with listermint, I don't understand why the gutter would be an issue?

Lumen

Devil's advocate.

It's a lot of effort that will draw attention to the next scruffiest thing, the white PVC windows and doors.

I'd say you'd get a better result by spending the effort/money on replacing those instead, painting the wall a trendier colour, and putting some nice guttering on.

Don't understand the current fashion of cladding the crap out of everything. Good design derives form from function, and cladding a block wall is functionally pointless (pretentious rant ends).

awec

Lumen wrote: »

Devil's advocate.

It's a lot of effort that will draw attention to the next scruffiest thing, the white PVC windows and doors.

I'd say you'd get a better result by spending the effort/money on replacing those instead, painting the wall a trendier colour, and putting some nice guttering on.

Don't understand the current fashion of cladding the crap out of everything. Good design derives form from function, and cladding a block wall is functionally pointless (pretentious rant ends).

Cladding a block wall makes perfect sense to me, it'll look nicer.

Cladding a rendered block wall makes less sense.

Agree that the pvc windows and doors, as well as that windowsill (pvc?) will stick out like a sore thumb if it's cladded.

karlitob

awec wrote: »

Cladding a block wall makes perfect sense to me, it'll look nicer.

Cladding a rendered block wall makes less sense.

Agree that the pvc windows and doors, as well as that windowsill (pvc?) will stick out like a sore thumb if it's cladded.

Looks rendered to me.
Split the difference - paint the shed, clad the boundary wall on the right.
Pvc primer and paint for the door.

listermint

Lumen wrote: »

Devil's advocate.

It's a lot of effort that will draw attention to the next scruffiest thing, the white PVC windows and doors.

I'd say you'd get a better result by spending the effort/money on replacing those instead, painting the wall a trendier colour, and putting some nice guttering on.

Don't understand the current fashion of cladding the crap out of everything. Good design derives form from function, and cladding a block wall is functionally pointless (pretentious rant ends).

Fair, but all very easily painted. It's a shed I wouldn't replace them sunk wasted money unless they're letting in cold leave them be paint them.