Cedral Lap features on residential building in Roedean

When fitting a high spec product like Cedral facades, it pays to hire a professional experienced installer – as property developer Dominic Arnold, owner of Clover Design & Build Ltd in Brighton, found out.

Six months ago, he hired a firm to fit Cedral Lap facades on a 4-bedroom house in Roedean, Brighton, a stylish New England renovation that doubled the home’s original size. But things didn’t go according to plan.

“It was horrendous,” says Dominic. “After the fitters had been working on the job for a few weeks I noticed some very serious issues including poor installation of the boards, a lack of ventilation and profiles that were either missing or incorrectly used – the whole thing was an absolute disaster.”

A Cedral surveyor visited the property and condemned the work, at which point a new contractor was appointed. He removed the facades and re-installed everything to Cedral's specifications.

“He was very good and adhered to all Cedral specifications on air gaps and ventilation, and also used stainless steel screws, which was not done in the first installation. The Cedral surveyor then sanctioned the work and delivered the guarantees.”

Cedral provides a 10-year product guarantee for all products installed to its recommendations, for homeowners’ peace of mind.

“Correct installation is so important, not just for adhering to regulated building standards but also for aesthetic reasons,” says Dominic. “As a finishing product, Cedral cladding must be respected as a beautifully engineered piece of kit that needs to be installed with care, skill and professionalism. If it is not installed correctly, it will look wrong and cause potential problems in the future.

Luckily, an earlier renovation job at Rottingdean in Brighton had a much better outcome for Dominic. Using Cedral Lap in stylish white to create New England villa style appeal, the final result achieved the desired effect.

Dominic did a lot of the installation work himself and it went very well, though in hindsight, he says, it would have been a lot easier if he had made better use of Cedral’s online guides.

He has no reservations highly recommending Cedral to other homeowners and construction firms. “It’s a good-looking product that’s very low maintenance, hardwearing and long-lasting. It’s good quality and incredibly versatile.”