An unsightly outbuilding immediately downgrades your garden. Here’s our guide to creating a durable, design-led shed.

When choosing timber for your shed, natural durability, dimensional stability and aesthetic beauty are key.

To give you some ideas and inspiration for your shed cladding, let’s take a look at options for species and profiles.

The best types of wood for garden shed cladding

Many of the cladding products you will find at home improvement stores are types of chemically pressure-treated (or tanalised) spruce. While serviceable, these products lack natural durability (and beauty, if we’re being honest)!

Instead, try a species like western red cedar, European oak, Siberian larch, Douglas fir or a heat-treated option like Thermo-ayous. These woods combine beauty with natural durability, promising decades of service life.

Explore our range of timber cladding

1. Western red cedar

A long-time favourite of architects and home improvers, western red cedar is considered by many as the best timber for exterior applications like cladding. We find it hard to disagree.

This Canadian-imported species has a glorious reddish-brown colour, with occasional darker chocolate and lighter salmon streaks, placing it amongst the attractiveness elite.

Modern wooden garden room with vertical timber cladding, black-framed glass doors and windows, a flat dark roof, and a small concrete patio on a green lawn.

While cedar is a softwood and not particularly dense or heavy, it has remarkable rot resistance – the timber boasts a unique biochemistry, containing natural fungicidal and insecticidal compounds called thujaplicins.

It has a Class 2 rating BS EN 350 rating. BS EN 350 is a European standard that assesses the natural durability of wood (with 1 being the most durable, and 5 being the least durable). Class 1 can only be achieved through chemical modification processes like acetylation, as in the example of Accoya®.

Cedar also has very good dimensional stability – it won’t warp, shrink or expand in the face of moisture as dramatically as some other species might.

Cedar finishes very well and there are a number of treatment options – you could even paint it a solid colour, but we think it’d be a shame to conceal all that natural beauty.

Take care during installation with fixings, however. The wood leeches black stain with certain metals, so stainless steel nails or screws are essential.

2. European oak

While a very popular structural timber, oak also works well as a high-performance exterior option for cladding a posh shed or garden room, with timeless golden-brown hues that are bound to make a statement.

European oak is one particular type that works well for cladding any shed or outbuilding. It has a Class 2 rating (durable) according to EN 350 standards, with moderate to good dimensional stability.

Close-up of light oak wooden horizontal siding boards with visible grain and beveled edges.

It’s also available in a wide range of 'finger-jointed' lengths. This refers to smaller pieces of timber being machined and glued together to create one long length, boosting stability and allowing the cladding to be edited free of defects.

Like cedar, oak can be left without treatment, but it will eventually attain a distinguished silvery-grey look. Also, like cedar, oak reacts with iron, so stainless steel nails or screws are a must.

Close-up of light brown wooden deck planks with visible grain and knots, arranged diagonally with narrow gaps.

3. Siberian larch

Another species often on the tip of people’s tongues when it comes to exterior cladding applications, for very good reason.

With good dimensional stability and a Class 3 (moderate durability) BS EN 350 rating, Siberian larch assures top performance.

Wood-clad single-storey rear extension with large glass sliding doors, attached to a brick house, on a concrete patio with a bare yard. — Untreated timber cladding in Siberian Larch (grade A)

With the unsorted grade having few knots, a straight grain and coming in a variety of beautiful shades from yellow to reddish-brown, Siberian larch is a formidable choice for that garden storage area or hideaway.

Wood-clad backyard extension with black-framed glass doors, a small outdoor light, potted plants, gravel beds, and a stone path beside a green lawn. — Siberian Larch cladding

For an even more natural look, sawfalling grades come with additional knots, providing added rustic character.

Native to cold, harsh, sub-zero climates, larch is slow growing. This means, despite being a softwood, it clocks in with a density of 575kg/mᵌ.

Taking finishes very well, Siberian Larch can be stained or left to weather naturally with a service life of over 50 years.

Modern wooden house with slate roof and skylights, glass doors, and a gray cushioned outdoor dining set on a wooden deck with plants and blue sky. — Silvered off nicely: like all woods, Siberian larch will eventually attain a silvery-grey look without treatment

We sort our Siberian larch cladding into grade ‘A’ (Unsorted I-III) and grade ‘B’ (Sawfalling I-V). A allows for infrequent, smaller knots, whereas Grade B has more knots per plank – but both perform excellently for garden shed cladding.

4. Douglas fir

Douglas fir is yet another popular softwood with natural resistance to decay – with a fungicidal lignin structure and resin acids, it is rated as Class 3 (moderate durability). Like cedar, it also hails from the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

One thing many people value about Douglas fir is its beautiful variation in colour and character — you can admire the differences between panels all day. It has a wild grain pattern and a warm reddish-brown palette.

Night view of a small wooden shed with vertical slats and a glass sliding door; interior desk and chair visible, lit trees along a fence.

Douglas fir can also be a cost effective option for those running a tighter budget. In our DTC2 profile, at the time of writing Douglas fir costs £45 + VAT per m². The equivalent in cedar is £55 + VAT.

5. Thermally-modified woods (like Thermo-ayous, -Nordic pine and -tulipwood)

If you’re on a slight budget but still want a high-performance wood for your shed cladding, take a look at Thermo-ayous, Thermo-Nordic pine and Thermo-tulipwood.

The sustainable heat treatment process drastically improves the timber’s outdoor performance, producing a decay-resistant, stable and eye-catchingly beautiful exotic brown cladding solution. All thermally-modified cladding products have a BS EN 350 Class 2 (durable) rating.

Curved wooden garden room with black-framed glass doors on a curved patio, fenced yard, green lawn and tall trees behind. — Thermo-Ayous cladding

Tan vertical wooden siding on a modern building, with a gray-framed window on the left and an open doorway on the right, a stone path and small garden beyond.

Wooden building with tall vertical planks, a metal downspout on the right, gravel yard, distant fence and trees under a bright blue sky.

Wood cabin with a gray metal roof and glass doors on a raised deck, bordered by a rope fence and a garden with yellow shrubs. — Vertical mixed width moulded cladding in Thermo-Ayous, with preservative coating

Once you’ve chosen a species of timber, you need to select a profile.

The best cladding profiles for a garden shed

Profile determines how the cladding boards fit together, predominantly affecting appearance but also performance. For a more traditional look, opt for a horizontal style like shiplap or feather edge. If you’re after a more contemporary style, consider V-groove or shadow gap, potentially fixed vertically.

Shiplap – a versatile, timeless style

Shiplap is the most popular garden shed exterior wall cladding profile. Designed to be installed horizontally, it provides a versatile, timeless and finished look that’s at home in any outdoor space.

As well as being synonymous with garden sheds, shiplap is functional, too – the smooth curve to its shape helps with rainwater runoff.

Shiplap profile: a timeless, smart and finished profile

Small white shed in a sunny garden, with blooming trees behind and green shrubs in the foreground; a trash can and pots sit nearby.

Green wooden garden shed with glass doors and a small porch, surrounded by autumn leaves; a round metal table and chairs sit on the lawn to the right.

Modern wooden shed with dark frame and glass doors sits in a green garden, surrounded by potted plants and a small tree under a blue sky.

Small gray shed with white trim in a sunny backyard; window with a flower box, a door, garden beds along a wooden fence, and a rake nearby.

Halflap has a similar look to shiplap, but has a flat (rather than curved) lip and an overlapping fit, rather than tongue and groove.

Gray irregular polygon on white background with a stepped left side and a diagonal top edge toward the right. — Halflap: a more linear take on shiplap

Feather edge – a weatherproofed, traditional style

If you’re looking for an even more traditional and countryside feel, you may want to take a look at feather edge. The overlapping boards, cut at an angle, are most typically associated with rural outbuildings.

With its boards cut at an angle, feather edge also runoff of rain water, helping to shield your shed from the elements.

A long, light-gray trapezoid with a dark outline on a white background; the top edge slopes downward from left to right. — Featheredge profile: the most traditional profile out there, for an agricultural look

Close-up of light-brown wooden boards stacked horizontally, showing wood grain and beveled edges against a white background.

Wooden shed beside a gravel path in a lush garden with raised beds, purple and yellow flowers, grasses, and a weathered wooden fence.

Wooden cabin on a raised deck in a garden, with a wicker chair, green blanket, small white table, potted plants, and hanging lantern lights.

V-groove or shadow gap profile – for a modern statement

To make a contemporary touch with your garden shed or outbuilding cladding, consider a modern profile like shadow gap or V-groove.

Both of these profiles provide a smooth, uniform and refined look. The neat gaps create a subtle shadow line between each cladding board.

As long as they are fitted professionally and properly, their interlocking nature makes them highly waterproofed.

Long light-gray rectangular bar with a left-side stepped notch and a small right-side rectangular extension, outlined in dark gray. — V-groove cladding: forming a flatter surface with a neat ‘V’ between the panels

Long gray shape with a rectangular inward notch on the left edge and a stepped right edge, creating a shallow zigzag silhouette. — Shadow gap cladding: the gaps provide a subtle aesthetic touch

Wood-clad modern cabin with large glass doors, a dark wooden deck, and an overhanging roof with recessed lights, set among trees.

Unlike the aforementioned shiplap, halflap and feather edge, these profiles are commonly fixed vertically – a popular design-led choice.

(Be sure to check out our blog giving ideas and inspiration on choosing between vertical and horizontal cladding.)

Ready to start your garden shed cladding project?

Explore our wide range of quality timber cladding. All of our products are made from sustainably sourced imported timber and machined by us to your choice of profile.

For more inspiration, check out some of our recent projects, or message us if you have any questions.

Get in touch with our team

The Best Types of Wood (& Design Ideas) for Garden Shed Cladding