Exterior Cladding in Littleport - What to Do While You Wait, and What to Leave to Us

Expert Exterior Cladding
in Littleport

What exterior cladding is and what we do

Exterior cladding is a layer of boards or panels fixed over the outside of your walls to protect the structure from wind, rain and cold. It also gives the building a clean, finished appearance. We fit timber, composite, fibre cement and metal cladding systems at Mildenhall Roofers, covering Littleport and the surrounding area.

When cladding fails suddenly - in a storm, after an impact, or because a section has finally given way after gradual deterioration - there is usually a gap between discovering the problem and getting a tradesperson on site to fix it properly. This page tells you what to do in that window, and what not to attempt yourself.

First: assess from the ground

Before you do anything else, take a careful look at the damage from the ground. Do not climb a ladder to poke at the affected section until you have a clear picture of how stable it is. Cladding boards that are partially detached can come away suddenly, especially if there is wind. Look for:

• Boards that are hanging loose or flapping - these need to be secured or removed temporarily
• Whether the damage is to the boards themselves or to the substrate behind
• Whether any water is visibly tracking into the wall - look for wet patches on the internal side of the affected elevation
• The extent of the damage - is it one board, a section, or something more widespread

Photographs taken from the ground, from an upstairs window, and from any safe vantage point are genuinely useful. Send them to us along with a brief description and we can give you a realistic view of the urgency before we visit.

Protecting the wall while you wait

If a section of cladding has come away and is leaving the wall behind exposed to rain, the priority is to stop water getting into the building. There are limited things you can do safely yourself, and it is worth knowing what they are.

A heavy-duty polythene sheet or a purpose-made tarpaulin fixed over the affected section provides useful temporary weather protection. It needs to be fixed far enough above the damage to overlap with undamaged cladding, and weighted or secured at the bottom so it cannot lift in wind and cause further damage. Do not use adhesive tape directly on damaged or wet cladding boards - it does not hold well and can pull away surface material when it is removed.

If water is getting into the interior and you have identified where it is coming in, placing towels or absorbent material against the wall will limit spread to floor materials and skirting boards. Do not use electrical items near the affected area, and if you have any concern about water near wiring or consumer units, switch off the circuit at the fuse board and call an electrician before a roofer.

What not to attempt yourself

It is tempting to try a quick fix while you wait. The following are genuinely best left to a tradesperson, and attempting them can make the eventual repair more complex or more expensive.

• Do not refix loose boards yourself with screws or nails unless you know where the battens behind are. Random fixings driven through the board face can split the board further, damage the vapour membrane behind, or miss the batten entirely and provide no real holding strength. A board that appears to have been interfered with is also harder for us to assess on arrival.
• Do not apply expanding foam or silicone to gaps in the cladding. These products trap moisture rather than directing it away, and both are very difficult to remove cleanly before a proper repair can be made. Silicone in particular bonds poorly to most cladding materials and leaves a residue that prevents subsequent products from adhering correctly.
• Do not remove large sections of cladding yourself. What appears to be a simple job often involves cutting around fixings, clips or trims that are not obvious from the outside. Removing boards incorrectly can damage adjacent boards that were sound, widen the area that needs replacing, and pull out the battens behind if the boards are clipped rather than face-fixed.
• Do not attempt to replace boards on a two-storey elevation from a ladder without proper working-at-height equipment. Working at height from an unsecured ladder while handling boards or panels is a significant risk. Scaffolding is the right platform for this work and is part of what a proper quote should include.

Storm damage specifically - what to document

If the damage was caused by a storm, you may have a valid claim under your home insurance policy. Document the damage thoroughly before anything is touched. Take timestamped photographs of every affected area, note the date and approximate time of the storm, and check whether neighbouring properties have also suffered damage - this can support a claim. Keep any boards or sections that have come off the building, as an insurer or loss adjuster may want to inspect them. Ask your insurer what their process is before instructing any repair work, as some policies require their own surveyor to assess the damage first.

Cladding materials and what affects urgency

The material your cladding is made from affects how quickly exposed sections will cause problems.

Timber cladding is most vulnerable to rapid water ingress - bare, uncoated timber absorbs water quickly and can begin to show swelling and staining within days of exposure. If timber boards have been stripped from the wall in a storm, protect the wall behind as quickly as possible.

Composite cladding is less water-absorbent at the board itself, but composite systems are designed to drain and ventilate correctly. A breach in the system that allows standing water to accumulate in the cavity needs attention within a reasonable time frame.

Fibre cement boards are relatively water-tolerant in the short term but are heavy - a loosely hanging fibre cement board is a physical risk and should be either secured from below or carefully removed and stored flat until the repair is made.

Metal cladding panels that have been bent or displaced in a storm may have sharp edges exposed. Keep people and children away from the affected section until it has been made safe.

What the repair or replacement process looks like

When we arrive on site, the first thing we do is check the substrate behind the damaged section before committing to a scope of work. This is not us being slow - it is how you avoid paying for a board replacement that fails again because the batten behind it was saturated or the wall behind was damaged. Once we know what we are working with, we can give you a clear account of what needs doing and in what order.

Exterior cladding repairs in this part of Cambridgeshire and into Suffolk typically range from a few hundred pounds for a small isolated board replacement to several thousand for a full section re-clad following significant damage. The only way to give you a useful figure is a site visit. We cover Littleport and nearby areas including Ely and Mildenhall.

Getting us to site

Call us with a description of the damage and we will discuss whether it is urgent or can wait for a scheduled visit. If you can send photographs ahead of the call, even better - it helps the most likely repair be planned in advance, which can avoid a second trip. Do not leave exposed wall sections unprotected over a long period of wet weather, particularly heading into autumn and winter.