Mixing claddings on a garden room

In the Self Build Garden Room Guide eBook we write about the trend for mixing more than one cladding materials on the exterior of a garden room. Last month, when we visited the Chelsea Flower Show we spotted an interesting way of joining the two finishes.

Our mock-up of how the two claddings were joined together

Crown Pavilions were showcasing one of their Crown Clarence garden rooms. This range allows you to mix timber cladding on the side walls with brick, slate or render on the front wall. Nothing too unusual here, until one looks at how the Crown designers have wrapped the slate, brick or render around the corners of the building, and then angled the joint where it meets the vertical timber cladding. We thought it stylish and looked great when viewing from an angle. It may be an unusual design feature that you could incorporate into your garden room design.

Crown’s stand was so busy, our photos are not great, so we have modelled up what this looked like to showcase the joint further.

Garden room designers are making use of slate cladding tiles that come in sections which lock together. They have all the texture of choosing different slates but are much quicker to fit. Other companies are using brick slips, which have the character and colour of a real brick but are much thinner and lightweight. There are also some ranges that are made of PVC.

Wrapping the cladding around the corner and the angled joint creates a room that stands out

Some companies are mixing brick slips with the timber cladding

When it comes to the joint with the timber cladding, you need to think about where you position your battens so that the end of each cladding board can be fixed firmly into a batten. We noted on the Crown building that they then add a wooden cover strip to cover any fixings and define the joint further.