Frequently asked questions

We are the first and only dedicated Western Red Cedar cladding specialist in the UK. We provide the highest quality, lowest cost Western Red Cedar available to the trade and self-build markets. Our focus on only supplying British and Canadian Western Red Cedar has allowed us to optimise our supply chain, processing and distribution for our customer’s benefit. We do not have the distraction of supplying other products, services and sectors that our competitors do which results in a better product at a lower price point.

All of our Western Red Cedar is sustainably sourced according to internationally recognised standards that promote and ensure sustainable forest management. This includes, but is not limited to Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, Forest Stewardship Council and Natural Resources Wales Chain of Custody which warrants supply chain from forest to finished product and ensures sustainable management throughout.

There are three main considerations when choosing between British and Canadian Western Red Cedar: aesthetics, budget and environmental impact. Canadian Western Red Cedar will give you a greater depth and range of colours with a clear, flawless finish with minimal to no imperfections, whereas British Western Red Cedar will give you a more consistent, paler colour with varied grain and knots for a more natural look. Both woods ‘silver’ with age unless a treatment is applied. British Western Red Cedar is approximately 50% of the cost of Canadian Western Red Cedar and is not subject to price fluctuation due to changes in exchange rate or availability of supply. Prices of Canadian Western Red Cedar have been increasingly recently with the trend predicted to continue upwards, making British Western Red Cedar the ideal choice for the budget conscious. Of the two options, British Western Red Cedar is the most environmentally friendly for the UK market. It is faster growing, locally sourced and with a comparatively low carbon footprint associated with. See the British vs Canadian page for more details.

Cedar Direct is The UK’s only dedicated Cedar cladding specialist. We only supply British and Canadian Western Red Cedar. Our focus and expertise in Western Red Cedar is what stands us apart from our competition.

All of Cedar Direct’s Canadian Western Red Cedar is graded according to the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau ‘R List’ Export Rules. We offer three main grades of Canadian Western Red Cedar cladding: Clear, #2 Clear / Better and #4 Clear. Unless otherwise requested, we combine #2 Clear and Better with #4 Clear as standard to provide what we consider to be the best quality and value for money product. We grade all British Western Red Cedar as ‘knotty’ because it does not conform to internationally recognised standards.

We believe that kiln drying is an unnecessary and environmentally detrimental process. At Cedar Direct we air dry all of our Western Red Cedar in our purpose built facilities.

For external cladding purposes, Western Red Cedar is one of the most naturally durable cladding materials available. British Cedar is expected to last 20-30 years and Canadian Cedar is expected to last 50+ years. Their lifespan depends on exposure to the elements and maintenance.

The natural reddish brown colour of Western Red Cedar won’t stay that way for long if left untreated and can weather to a silver-grey colour within 6-12 months depending on the conditions. In dry climates the weathering tends to be even across boards, although moisture rich climates such as the UK can lead to patchy weathering that reverts to uniform silvering given time. It is worth noting that British Western Red Cedar typically weathers more evenly than Canadian Western Red Cedar.

We offer a range of standard cladding profiles for your project. Our standard profiles offer what we consider to be the most popular profiles that accommodate both the aesthetics and practicality (e.g. weather proofing) that our clients demand. All profiles have variants according to profile depth and design. Board width can also be varied; as standard we supply either a 140mm or 90mm finished board width. We can also build custom profiles if there is a particular design that you are looking for.

We do provide fixings in the form of ‘Stainless Steel RSD Countersunk Wood Screws’, which can be found on our accessories page.

The great thing about Western Red Cedar is that it doesn’t require any treatment at all and if left alone will ‘silver’ with age. However, if you wish to retain the look we recommend Treatex Cedar Oil. More details can be found on our accessories page.

The only by-products of our machining process are Cedar shavings and Cedar pellets. And whilst we do not list these for sale on our website we can offer prices on request.

Unfortunately, we do not have a showroom. However, you are more than welcome to visit our workshop to view our products and discuss your project with us.

Cedar is a natural material that is subject to variation in colour, grain and characteristics, hence we cannot guarantee total uniformity of boards. That said, Western Red Cedar is a remarkably stable and durable wood, that once fitted should last in excess of 25 years without requiring maintenance. Please refer to our Terms of Sale for full details.

We have no minimum order quantity for our standard profiles. If you require a custom profile that requires new tooling to be built there is a minimum order value of £2,000 otherwise we may have to charge for tooling.

We do not offer trade accounts or lines of credit. This is a deliberate strategy to keep our costs to a minimum so that we can pass these savings on to our customers and retain our position as a cost leader.

Delivery is free to anywhere in the UK for orders over 250 linear meters. For orders under 250 meters a small delivery fee will apply.

We deliver to anywhere in the UK.

We take payment either by bank transfer, debit or credit card. Payment is required in advance prior to shipping.

We have tried to make the quotation and ordering process as simple and as transparent as possible. This starts with the instant quote tool that we publish on our website. This allows you to assess various permutations of cladding profiles and quantities prior to making contact. To place an order, we would first need to issue a quotation and receive acceptance from you based on that quotation. Payment is required in full prior to shipping.

Mistakes happen! If you require additional boards we will honour the price per linear meter that you ordered your original quantity at. We cannot offer refunds on surplus unfortunately. If you have a particularly low additional order volume there may be a surcharge for delivery. We would always recommend that customers order 5-10% additional to accommodate wastage.

We fully support the trade and self-build industries and are happy to zero-rate VAT if the relevant documentation can be provided in advance. We cannot support a retrospective claim unfortunately.

Our Terms of Sale can be found here.

We believe that the service we offer to our customers is second-to-none and take any issues that a customer may have very seriously. To ensure that we correctly track any complaints, it is important that we have an audit trail that we can all agree is an accurate representation of the facts. To help with this we ask that all complaints are confirmed in writing to enquiries@cedardirect.co.uk.