Cladding panels on a house

A tired wall or a cold room often starts people thinking about cladding.

Cladding is a layer of material fixed to the outside of a wall. These notes cover the rules in England for cladding a house, a garage or an extension.

What cladding does

Cladding can add insulation, change how a building looks and protect the wall behind it. The material makes a difference. uPVC and vinyl insulate better than timber. Brick and cement finishes need very little care. Timber and weatherboard may need regular cleaning and treating.

Cladding is not recommended on a wall that is structurally unsound and cannot be repaired.

Planning permission

Outside certain protected areas, a house can be clad without applying for planning permission. The materials must look similar to the ones the house was built with.

Some places are stricter. In a Conservation Area, a National Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or the Broads, you need planning permission first. That applies to cladding in stone, artificial stone, pebble dash, render, timber, plastic or tiles.

A listed building needs listed building consent for any significant work, inside or out. If you are unsure, ask your local planning authority.

Building regulations and insulation

Building regulations approval is separate from planning permission. You might need both.

The regulations normally apply when 25 per cent or more of an outside wall is re-clad, re-rendered or re-plastered. The wall's insulation would then normally have to be brought up to a reasonable standard. Approved Document L sets out what that means.

A building control body can tell you whether your project needs approval. You can use your council's building control team or a private registered approver.

Walls close to a boundary

Fire rules depend on how close a wall is to the boundary. Approved Document B grades materials from class A1, the best, down to class F. Extra letters show how much smoke and how many burning droplets a material gives off.

For a house no taller than 11 metres, the outside surface of a wall less than 1 metre from the boundary should be class B-s3, d2 or better. A wall 1 metre or more away has no such rule. A product that has not been tested cannot be given a class, so ask the maker for its classification.

A wall close to a boundary may also need to resist fire. So does a wall that holds up a roof or a floor above, wherever it stands.

Panels that are banned