Over cladding a barn. Viable or stupid idea?

[MikeG.]

........The oak I have is already planked and has been seasoning indoors for about 30 years.........

That changes everything. Crack on.

You won't be adding insulation, as there will be airflow behind it. You are simply adding shelter. It is critical to maintain the existing airflow behind the current cladding, to have a decent insect proofing strategy for your new void, and to produce a reasonable looking detail for the junction of the the cladding with the plinth. It really does look awkward to have the cladding sticking out 2 or 3 inches from the masonry. You know without me telling you that leaving existing rot in place hidden behind a new layer isn't a good idea, so deal with that first.

That aside, you've no good reason not to do this.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks Mike. Your opinion matters to me.

 

[AJB Temple]

PS, all over Kent timber clad buildings are painted white or black. There are maybe 12 house in my road (2 miles long) and we have examples of both, plus brick oasts.

 

[meccarroll]

Thanks all. To clarify.
The barn was converted in the 1980's (not by me). It is already insulated, has a breather membrane and clad.
There is not much rot - it is mainly window surrounds - I could do repairs in a couple of days.
It is not listed.

The feather-board needs a good deal of repair, all window surrounds need replacing, and the whole lot needs repainting. I can easily spend £3000 on repainting, for good quality materials, scaffolding and repairs. And in 10 years or less it will need doing again.

Quite interesting, and as MikeG says "Crack On".

 

[MikeG.]

I'd just add that there isn't a lot of work in ripping off the existing, and that would be my preferred approach. You'd leave no hidden problems that way, and the details around the openings and at the plinth would be neater.

 

[HOJ]

AJ, I know you are more than familiar with the look of Oak as a cladding, just thought I would post a couple of pictures of a Grade 2 listed barn I worked on a few years ago.

The biggest issue was the the run off of tannin as can be seen, however that is washing away now and the Oak is now weathered grey, the lead is still stained though.

All this cladding was fixed with round head S/steel screws, which has helped in the long run as they can easily be adjusted or replaced to compensate for movement.

As an aside, there are 49 windows + doors on this job, everyone of them was made to measure to fit in between the Oak frames.

 

[meccarroll]

AJ, I know you are more than familiar with the look of Oak as a cladding, just thought I would post a couple of pictures of a Grade 2 listed barn I worked on a few years ago.

The biggest issue was the the run off of tannin as can be seen, however that is washing away now and the Oak is now weathered grey, the lead is still stained though.





All this cladding was fixed with round head S/steel screws, which has helped in the long run as they can easily be adjusted or replaced to compensate for movement.

As an aside, there are 49 windows + doors on this job, everyone of them was made to measure to fit in between the Oak frames.

What you have posted is quite significant in relation to Oak as a cladding and the effect of tannin and I would like to thank you for your time. Great information thank you. Should be very useful to me in the future.

 

[MikeG.]

It's interesting to see the oak boarding not sitting as flat as pine boards do. Around here chestnut and elm were used traditionally, rather than oak, and the undulating finish is quite characteristic. It's easy to see a few boards in those nice barn photos which are trying to misbehave.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks for taking the trouble to post the pictures. The boards look much narrower than I would use and I agree some have moved. I think this has to be accepted with oak cladding, along with the tannin. I like the silvery grey colour that oak turns after a couple of years, but what I like even more is not painting large buildings like this.

I am still pondering my options - whatever I do won't be until next year.

But I will do pictures here if my wife lets me.