Many of us are so stretched for time that certain household maintenance jobs are continually bumped down the list of priorities. Does this mean we have to resign ourselves to living in decaying, dirty properties with shabby features and unkempt outside spaces? Absolutely not. This is the 21st
century and we have myriad options at our disposal to make household maintenance as quick, simple and affordable as possible.
It is not just about easy-iron shirts and robot vacuums! The very fabric of our homes and gardens has evolved so much that there are now lots of low-maintenance options available.
What exactly are low-maintenance building materials?
Southern Sheeting is a local family business with more than 40 years’ experience in supplying materials to building merchants, construction tradespeople and the domestic market.
Many of the roofing, cladding and landscaping products we supply require less maintenance than more the traditional alternatives, as well as delivering other benefits, including green credentials and durability. We are not suggesting that every lawn should be replaced with artificial turf, and we understand why timber has been such a popular material for millennia. But we do believe there are some pretty impressive alternatives available on the market that are beautiful to look at and work with, more sustainable, easier to maintain and often work out to be more affordable overall.
Cut back on cleaning
As far as regular time-saving maintenance goes, easy-clean products are a big win – especially materials that do not rot or attract mould and moss in the way timber and stone do. We are talking about products that can be easily sprayed or wiped clean to bring them straight back to their just-installed glory.
Cleaning a sandstone patio with a pressure washer, for example, risks marking the stone or blowing the grout. But using the same technique on a porcelain patio or good-quality Trex composite deck will make it look freshly installed again without any of those risks. Likewise with timber cladding: a pressure washer will often mark or splinter even the best-quality hardwoods, such as cedar. But if you choose capped composite cladding, or a fibre cement version such as Cedral, you’ll have no such worries.
Surface treatment
It’s not just cleaning that takes up valuable time. To keep some traditional building products looking good and standing the test of time, they often need to be sanded, sealed, varnished, waxed and painted. This is not only time consuming but can become a costly and recurring yearly expense.
A brand-new stained wooden deck or cedar summer house will, of course, look absolutely stunning for the first year or so. But unless you are a fan of the weathered look, you will be less happy as the years go by. And you will have signed yourself up to a laborious annual chore that most of us would rather do without.
Self-coloured, UV-resistant products made of metal, composite or fibre cement require no surface treatment. Once installed, an annual wash with water to keep them looking fresh is all that is required – saving the bank balance and the back ache.
Repair work
Besides regular cleaning and protective maintenance, certain building materials can require ad-hoc repairs or even replacement. It’s therefore important to choose products that are strong, durable and resistant to rot, UV damage and pests. Using a steel gutter system instead of the more ubiquitous PVC variety, for example, will mean you’re less likely to experience cracking or failure at the seals. Similarly, aluminium fence posts used to support Bison composite fencing will withstand the elements and far outlive traditional timber versions, which are prone to rotting at the point of contact with the ground.
Cladding Vs Timber: Is faux timber a faux pas?
While timber still certainly has its place in modern building, cladding has been created with the goal of overcoming the obstacles often faced with a timber structure. Therefore, cladding is undoubtedly more robust; absorbing less water, avoiding any rot, or splitting, it remains pest-free, and it will not warp in extreme weather temperatures.
We have also established the low-maintenance benefits of the alternatives to natural timber, but it is all for nought if the look and feel of the product don’t pass muster – more people would simply put up with regular maintenance in order to enjoy the real thing.
While it is obviously a matter of personal preference, and there will always be traditionalists for whom only the ‘real thing’ will do, whether that is for timber or stone, we believe that technology has come such a long way in recent years, and most people are surprised at how realistic the alternatives are.
The best products are grain-embossed, sanded, colour-toned and even printed to ensure a lifelike and natural appearance. What is more, many of them are better for the planet, doing away with the need for felling yet more trees and instead using recycled plastics and wood fibres in their construction.
At Southern Sheeting, we are finding that more people are waking up to the advantages of these low-maintenance alternatives. And while the upfront costs can sometime be a little higher, over time it invariably works out cheaper as maintenance, repair and replacement costs fall away. So, not only do people gain financially – they also win back precious time to spend on life events that really matter.
