Quality timber cladding for bathroom ?

[masochists-r-us]

We're finally getting the bathroom done and I want painted wood cladding half way up the walls, but I'm fussy and my OH has an aversion to MDF. Have checked out the DIY sheds and the pine would need some serious filling and finishing to make it look decent. Alternatively, MDF doesn't look very 'authentic'.Ideally, we would like to buy a kit which includes bead and butt planks, skirting and the architrave for the top but haven't found anyone who sells the complete solution even if it costs more. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

[Flyfisher]

I'd avoid the DIY sheds and find a proper timber merchant. When I bought pine T&G to clad our bathroom I found there were various grades, the cheapest of which were quite knotty.

 

[livias]

Seconded. Any you don't want matchboard in a bathroom either. I used t&g which was something like 8-10mm thick and was fine

 

[a twig]

In contrast to the learned members above, I bought cheap 4mm pine tongue and grove in packs from one of the usual diy suspects (B&Q I think) and it was absolutely fine, very few knots etc. That said, we painted ours so I wasn't too fussed with knots etc.

Either way, it has been up >6 months and still looks great, no warping etc (maybe due to the very heavy duty extractor fan I installed removing all the damp air)!

 

[Flyfisher]

Just to clarify, I was only suggesting avoiding DIY sheds because they usually have a limited choice of timber compared to a 'proper' timber merchant, but if the timber they do have is suitable for the task in hand then fine.

As for knots, I find that they can be more of a problem when painting as they can often be cracked and therefore require filling for a smooth painted surface, whereas such imperfections are less noticeable if the wood is intended to be oiled/varnished.

 

[mims&pip]

We did this is in a *loo-tility* room ( :roll: ) complete with Victorian vanity unit, wc, boiler, washing machine and yes, shock horror a dishwasher, about fifteen years ago. We used t&g from a local timber merchant iirc and whilst admittedly it wasn't a bathroom as such, it was still going strong when we sold the house in 2007. Our timber was definitely not knotty, lol and was worth the extra £££

 

[Tony.]

My t&g cladding purchased from the big orange shed 10 years ago was installed after opening and leaving to settle in the room it was to be installed in.
Never had a bit of bother.
We opted to paint ours and some knotting compound on the knots prior to painting has resulted in no bleed through.

Its just been repainted and looks as good as day 1

 

[steveb]

If you can see past the drying nappies on the bath, and forgive me for not boxing in the soil pipe yet:

https://plus.google.com/photos/1142...6136209784169091810&oid=114266060510111771379

we used a load of flat thin plain hardwood strips (where we got them from is a long story) but they were about 3.5" wide and quarter inch thick, we nailed them in an offset layer on top of each other (you can see the first layer, unpainted at the back of this second picture)

https://plus.google.com/photos/1142...6136210660915686082&oid=114266060510111771379

it was capped with a piece of pine trim from some DIY shed, then painted the lot with linseed paint. A bit different but we were very pleased with the result.

 

[Telsun]

We've been looking for T&G paneling ourselves lately to panel our living room. Took us ages of research on the net but finally worked out that we need 'Reed and Bead' matchboard/ tongue and groove.

There was only a couple of sites we found that actually sell what we're looking for and have decided to get it from The Victorian Emporium http://www.thevictorianemporium.com/store/category/panelling The other site was the Paneling Company or something like that but no prices on the site and when we rung them it seemed to work out about twice the price of TVE. They do a matching dado rail but not skirting.

We're probably going to use a few different widths of paneling to hopefully give an authentic period feel...

Hope that helps!

 

[MatthewC]

We're probably going to use a few different widths of paneling to hopefully give an authentic period feel...

My period floors have different thicknesses as well... :evil:

 

[Feltwell]

Dresser mouldings do cladding and umpteen different types of trim. Pine as standard but will machine in what you want, for a price no doubt.

http://www.dressermouldings.com/

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Two very interesting links, just what I am looking for! Thank you

 

[chuckey]

I have used Neata panel, its bead and butt from green MDF and its 8mm thick. Much better then the big shed stuff. And you can get it with the "planks" running up the 8' length or across it.
Frank