Installation instructions
Would you like to install Ayous wooden facade cladding yourself? We will help you along the way with our tips and advice.
In the following 4 steps we will explain to you how you can successfully cover your facade with wood:
- Step 1: Material procurement
- Step 2: Attach the supporting structure
- Step 3: Install facade cladding
- Step 4: Finishing and Maintenance
Step 1: Material procurement
If you want to attach wood to your facade, it is important that the wood has a high durability class. Ayous is a tropical softwood species that falls into durability class 1/2 thanks to a thermal modification treatment. Ayous wood is therefore perfect for cladding a facade. The advantages of Ayous are:
- Durable: Ayous wood belongs to durability class 1/2 due to the thermal modification process. It also warps, shrinks or cracks minimally and has a lifespan of up to 25 years.
- Lightweight: Ayous wood is relatively light compared to other types of wood.
- Modern look: Due to the light brown to brown color of Ayous wood, your facade has a very modern and luxurious appearance.
- Maintenance-free: After installing Ayous cladding, you no longer need to worry about it and the color will turn gray naturally. If you want to keep the original color, the wood needs to be treated.
- Various versions: As listed below, we offer Ayous wood in 4 variants as standard. If you want something special, custom-made products are no problem for us.
- Relatively inexpensive: Ayous wood cladding is on average around 25% cheaper compared to other cladding.
Housewood offers four standard variants:
Custom orders are always possible, contact us about this!
Step 2: Attach the supporting structure
Moisture must never reach the rear structure. It is therefore important to attach a water-repellent and vapor-permeable film before installing the substructure. For open facade cladding, it is important that the film is UV-resistant. Housewood offers two types of facade films:
- Morgovent VX Black – suitable for closed facade cladding
- MorgoFassade Economic Black – suitable for open facade cladding (UV-resistant)
The facade film must be applied to the rear structure or to the inner wooden shell. The double adhesive edge makes this film easy to apply.
The substructure must be attached to the wood underneath. The fastening material should be corrosion-resistant, such as stainless steel screws. To ensure that screwing the substructure does not create any openings through which water can penetrate, we recommend using roof batten tape. Roof batten tape is water-repellent and airtight and ensures that nail and screw holes are sealed seamlessly. Thanks to the self-adhesive and synthetic rubber layer, the roof batten tape is easy to attach.
We recommend maintaining a standard distance of 50 cm to ensure that the facade cladding creates a very clean image. It is important to adequately ventilate the cavity behind the outer panel. Therefore, we recommend using a ventilation opening of 200 mm2 per m2 of cladding at the top and bottom of the facade. With horizontal facade cladding, ventilation occurs between the vertical substructure. For vertical facade cladding, a double substructure must be used (see Figure 2). It is important that the horizontal substructure slopes inwards at an angle of at least 15 to a maximum of 30 degrees. This prevents moisture from sticking to the facade cladding and causing wet spots. If the underside of the substructure is also sloped, hanging moisture can be largely avoided.
The required amount of substructure is as follows:
- Vertically open: pan slat (black) + slanted slat 15-30 degrees.
- Vertically closed: 2x pan slats
- Horizontally open: ventilation slat (black)
- Horizontally closed: ventilation slat
Step 3: Install facade cladding
There are several things to consider when attaching the facade cladding. We have put together a list of important points:
Attaching the wooden facade cladding to the substructure is best done using stainless steel ring nails or screws. It is important that the heads of the screws or nails sit on the surface of the wood. If they are inserted into the wood, it can cause contamination and damage to the wood.
To prevent cracking at the head when fixing the cladding, it is important to place the nail or screw at least 50 mm from the end. For profiles wider than 120 mm, we recommend using two nails or screws. The distance to the edge should be at least 15 mm.
When attaching the cladding, it is important that the boards have room for expansion so that possible expansion and contraction do not pose a problem. We recommend using an expansion margin of 3-4mm.
At the bottom of the cladding, leave a minimum gap of 300mm between the wood and the floor. This prevents splashing water from damaging the facade cladding.
Step 4: Finishing and Maintenance
Finishing Ayous facade cladding with a stain is not absolutely necessary. If you choose not to apply stain, the wood will turn gray from exposure to the elements. To ensure an even graying of your facade, it is important that the wood is evenly exposed to the weather and that there is good ventilation behind the cladding.
