Plywood cladding and finishing

[pike]

Other than the appearance, is there any good reason not to use wbp exterior plywood as cladding for a shed/workshop?

Does anyone have any advice on how to treat it and also what to use if I want a black finish?

Cheers!
Carl.

 

[blackrodd]

You'll need to seal and cover or at least seal all butt joints, and also maintainance and repair could be a real pain owing to the size of the sheeting.
Also how to stop the bottom edges from retaining water, I'd guess and say the bottoms would soon suffer delamination.
I suppose you could form a drip of some sort to seal the lower edges to and throw water off effectively.
Regards Rodders

 

[PAC1]

I am going to use Saddolin on my new Dust Extraction shed that I am building and cladding in WBP Ply. you need to cover the joints and end of the plywood and I would avoid horizontal joints as they will be water traps.

 

[pike]

Thanks. Good point about the bottom edges in particular. I was inspired by some fancy architecture projects I've seen. Perhaps they just don't care about longevity as they seem to have just tarred the ply and left gaps horizontally.

I suppose also I will need to be very careful where and what ply I buy. I've got some in the garden which has fallen apart, and other bits which are as good as the day I bought them even though they've been left piled up against a shed for a couple of years.

I could also spend big and go for marine ply, but it starts to get expensive then.

 

[blackrodd]

The main problem is the fact that the bottom carries all the water from above and can be constantly wet,
All year round and particularly in the monsoon season, and would need some amount of treatment with you're chosen finish.
There's a lot to be said for the traditional feather edge or shiplap finishes.
They possibly work out cheaper in the long run!
Regards Rodders