How do I construct a Western Red Cedar slatted screen?

When looking for a new slatted screen or fence, most people think of pre built panels that are available from DIY stores. Pre built panels are often made from very low grade, thin sections of treated wood.  Not only are they unattractive but this type of wood lacks dimensional stability which means it easily twists and warps leaving the fence looking ugly and disappointing.   

Silva Timber’s range of individual components allows the user to design a screen which suits your landscape’s requirements, rather than have to work around, and possibly compromise with a pre-built panel.

A well designed fence can greatly enhance your property’s kerb appeal and by the same token a badly designed low quality fence will detract.

Screens are simple structures and most can be built using a few simple tools and without any specialist carpentry skills necessary.

To create a design which best suits your needs, it is fairly easy to build a screen from scratch using components.  Whilst this method may initially seem complicated compared to buying pre built panels, it is fairly straightforward and offers a number of advantages when building your own fence using Western Red Cedar components from Silva.

Silva have created a guide detailing how easy it is to create a slatted screen. For more information please click here.

Western Red Cedar Shingles help create beautiful new care units for Douglas Macmillan Hospice

Silva Timber's Certi-label Western Red Cedar Shingles have been used on three new care units at Douglas Macmillan Hospice, North Staffordshire.

For patients requiring palliative care, Douglas Macmillan Hospice aim to provide the very best quality of life possible. As the hospice has grown in recent years, the organisation required new care units for patients in order to expand their services.

With a background in creating unique and special environments for various hospices, KKE Architects were chosen to undertake the design. From here the designs lead KKE to discuss Certi-grade Western Red Cedar No.1 Grade Blue Label Shingles with the customer support team at Silva Timber and ultimately specify Silva's Shingles for the project.

Douglas Macmillan required three units for their hospice, with Certi-grade Western Red Cedar No.1 Grade Blue Label Shingles making an ideal choice, not only for the roof, but the wall cladding too. 

The units were designed using ther PassivHaus philiosophy whcih through super-insulation, avoiding cold bridging and maximising solar gain, saves up to 90% on traditional building fuel costs. A ground source heat pump was installed to generate low-temperature water for underfloor heating, meaning any additional heat used will be a top up to an already efficient system rather than an compensating for heat that traditional leaks from windows, doors, floors and roofs. 

Silva's Certigrade Western Red Cedar Shingles made perfect sense for the roofing and cladding project, as KKE Architects commented, "Western Red Cedar Blue Label No.1 Grade Shingles were specified for the roof and wall cladding as they look good visually, weather well and fit easily into the the rural setting. They are sustainable, trap carbon emissions through carbon capture and have a very low embodied energy as they are produced using a relatively simple process." 

Shingles are a beautiful product which have been proven to be a superior material for roof and wall cladding, providing durability, warmth and resistance to extremes of wind and weather. Their natural appearance help finish buildings with stunning effect, with Douglas Macmillan Hospice being a prime example.

The 3 self-contained units which make up the Intermediate Care Unit sit separately within the grounds of the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. They are used for short term stays, typically 1 to 3 weeks by patients who are ready to be discharged from hospice care but may not feel ready to fully cope at home. It also works the other way round, for people who need assistance with settling into the hospice. The Units have enough space for relatives to stay, providing a home from home with the benefit of an on-site nurse and further medical backup from the hospice if required.  

Certi-label Western Red Cedar Shingles & Shakes are inspected by legitimate, third party agencies, accredited by the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau, ensuring quality and consistency from bundle to bundle.

Not all cedar shake and shingle products are alike. Certi-label products, manufactured by Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau members, assure you of the highest quality standards. Member mills have committed to consistent quality through independent third-party inspections by accredited agencies. Each bundle of product has the mill's distinctive Certi-label tucked under the bundle strap. Asking for "the blue label" or "number one blue label" is not specific enough.

Be aware that just because a supplier puts a label in a blue colour on its bundles does not mean that it’s on grade or third party inspected. Certigrade Western Red Cedar Shingles are inspected by legitimate, third party agencies, accredited by the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau.

Silva Timber are the only member of the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau outside of North America. The Bureau monitors and inspects member mills to ensure product quality, grading rules and consistency of Certi-Label cedar shingles and shakes are maintained. 

Silva Timber have a wide range of Western Red Cedar Shingles available from stock for immediate delivery across the UK, or ordered and collected direct from our showrooms in Cheshire and West London. For more information on Western Red Cedar Blue Label Shingles click here. Alternatively, to discuss our Shingle range please contact us.

The Benefits of Kiln Dried Cladding and Trim

The timber of living trees and freshly felled logs contains a large amount of water. When wood is used as a construction material it will absorb or release moisture until it is in equilibrium with its surroundings. The equilibration process (usually drying) causes unequal shrinkage in the wood, and can cause damage to the wood if the process occurs too rapidly. The process of equilibration needs to be controlled in order to prevent damage to the wood. There are two methods of controlling this process: air drying and kiln drying.

Air drying is the drying of timber by exposing it to the air. Timber is stacked with the boards separated by sticks on raised foundations in a cool, dry place. The rate of drying largely depends on climatic conditions, and on the air movement (exposure to the wind). For successful air drying, a continuous and uniform flow of air throughout the pile of the timber needs to be arranged.

The main disadvantage of air drying is that all pieces of a given stack of timber will not necessarily dry to the same moisture content. Boards on the inside of the stack may have completely different moisture content to those on the outside. In other words, when air drying timber you don't have the same control that kiln drying offers. Another disadvantage of air dried wood is that is usually needs acclimatising when delivered to site to prevent further shrinkage once installed. Furthermore, air dried wood may not be sufficiently dry for a coating to be applied whereas kiln dried wood can be coated with a wood finish (paint or stain) immediately. There are dangers in air-drying timber as well. If allowed to dry out too quickly, case-hardening or honeycombing will ruin the structure of the wood.

Kiln drying can be thought of as controlled air drying. Modern dry kilns allow tight control of air flow, temperature and humidity so that all the timber dries uniformly and to the precise moisture content required. Kiln drying often means a more uniform product and the problems often associated with poorly air-dried timber are avoided. Kiln-dried timber can be machined to a superior finish than air-dried timber and therefore problems such as raised grain are virtually eliminated. Kiln dried timber can usually be installed immediately upon delivery to site which means that you don’t need to have expensive timber lying around acclimatising. Kiln dried timber is also suitable for finishing immediately with a paint or stain which means that the wood can be protected without delay.

Clearly there are significant advantages gained by using kiln dried cladding and trim rather than air dried. It should be mentioned that there are still a number of traditional timber suppliers that successfully air dry certain species such as oak and elm, a process that can take many years to do properly. However in our experience kiln drying is a superior process, especially when dealing with premium cladding products such as Western Red Cedar and Siberian Larch. Only by drying these species in state of the art kilns prior to machining, can a superior quality finish and consistency be achieved. For this reason all of Silva Timber’s cladding and trim products are kiln dried at source by experts in the drying of each particular species.

Why specify Certi-label Western Red Cedar Shingles and Shakes

The Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau has served member mills and manufacturers in the Shingle & Shake industry since 1915. Each year the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau answers thousands of technical questions and product selection queries. The responsibility for educating the public and building code officials falls on the CSSB. Owing to knowledgeable staff, the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau has earned the distinction as the recognised industry authority.

 The Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau also monitor and inspect member mills for quality assurance, under the stringent grading rules of the Certi-label registered trademark. Only Cedar Bureau members who adhere to the grading rules are allowed to carry the Certi brand name on their shingle label

Certi-label Western Red Cedar Shingles & Shakes are inspected by legitimate, third party agencies, accredited by the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau, ensuring quality and consistency from bundle to bundle.

Not all cedar shake and shingle products are alike. Certi-label products, manufactured by Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau members, assure you of the highest quality standards. Member mills have committed to consistent quality through independent third-party inspections by accredited agencies. Each bundle of product has the mill's distinctive Certi-label tucked under the bundle strap. Asking for "the blue label" or "number one blue label" is not specific enough.

Be aware that just because a supplier puts a label in a blue colour on its bundles does not mean that it’s on grade or third party inspected. Certigrade Western Red Cedar Shingles are inspected by legitimate, third party agencies, accredited by the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau.

Silva Timber are the only member of the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau outside of North America. The Bureau monitors and inspects member mills to ensure product quality, grading rules and consistency of Certi-Label cedar shingles and shakes are maintained. 

Factors to consider when choosing your Western Red Cedar Shingle & Shake supplier.

Check for Third Party Inspection Agencies

Despite what labels may say, a phone number and/or post office box address does not constitute a legitimate third party inspection agency. Legitimate agencies hold proper accreditations, with trained, experienced staff with employees, an address, phone number and business office that are different from the manufacturer.

In-house inspectors are not equivalent to Third Party Inspection Agencies

‘In-house inspectors’ just means the manufacturer’s own staff have inspected their product and declared it fit for sale. Product without third party inspection can often result in a building regulation violation requiring the product to be removed from the build.

Check label reads “conforms with” as opposed to “in accordance with” grading rules

Always ask your supplier if the product in question actually meet the grading rules, the wording may be misleading.  

A Blue Label isn’t enough

The term ‘Blue Label’ is actually a registered trademark of the Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau. Just having a blue coloured label doesn’t mean it’s on grade or has been third party inspected.

To specify a Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau member’s product and grade, ensure ‘Certi-label’ is on the purchase order or specification. Follow this wording with grade, product type, length and width to minimize any ambiguity on the product you want.

Click here to see how to read and check a Certi-label

Non-certified shingles can lead to poor quality

Without third party inspections, bundles can often be loose, leading to poor coverage, have defects beyond the exposure line, which can lead to a failed installation or have shingles containing flat grain instead of edge grain. Always ask to see the rules which the shingles and bundles have been graded against.

Click the links below to view the Certi-grade grading rules for Silva Timber’s Western Red Cedar Shingle and Shakes products. 

Western Red Cedar Shingles Five-X Standard Grading Rules  (For Blue Label only)

Western Red Cedar Shingles Perfection Grading Rules  (For Blue, Red, Black, Green Label)

Western Red Cedar Handsplit Shakes Grading Rules

Western Red Cedar Tapersawn Shakes Grading Rules