ᐅ Facade Facing the Street – Protection Against Salt and Water

Dear Forum,

I am currently in the process of renovating an old wooden house in a small rural village. In the spring, the living area will receive external insulation, which will be clad with larch wood. Since the house is very close to the main road, I am now concerned that the heavy traffic in winter (ski resort) will soon leave visible marks on the larch wood when slush is splashed onto the facade.

I am considering cladding the facade up to about waist height with a different material that can withstand saltwater damage. Do you have any ideas on what could work well, looking good with larch and serving this purpose at the same time?

Thank you in advance and best regards!

Just a thought: why do it differently? Treat or paint your panels with a good quality paint. In the Benelux countries, there are well-known examples of many such houses. Specialist suppliers offer appropriate paints. If the facade looks worn after 10 years, it might be worth using the saved money to renew the lower part.

Larch wood does not require any treatment. Over time, it naturally turns a beautiful gray without rotting. This is how we handle it for our house—even though it is not located near a busy road. The aging process will simply be a bit faster on the side facing the street compared to more sheltered areas.

This also fits our life motto: "How quickly nothing gets done."

hampshire schrieb:

Larch wood does not need to be treated. Over time, it weathers to a beautiful gray without rotting. That’s how we’re doing it with our house – even though it’s not located near a busy road. The process will simply happen a bit faster on the side facing the street than in more sheltered areas.
It also fits our life motto: "How fast nothing gets done."

Great response and exactly my opinion as well. In the region, you often see a lot of untreated larch wood (mostly on farms), where the wood on the sun-facing side turns dark brown to black (which looks great!) and on the weather-exposed side generally turns gray – unfortunately usually unevenly, but that’s just how nature is. That’s exactly how I want it myself and wouldn’t even consider painting it (my neighbor colored his shingles ochre instead...).

Still, salt is merciless, so I probably need to do something, but I really like the idea of impregnating the wood (instead of using other materials, as Vicky suggested).

The uniformity of discoloration develops over the years. Depending on how close the house is to the street, you can also plant something resilient in front or, during the salt season, install a 50-80cm (20-32 inch) high plastic fence – these are available for gardens in a wave pattern.

Our neighbor clad their house with wood, but I’m not sure which type. The base, about knee-high, was covered with sandstone. It looks well-coordinated. The wall is roughly 15 years old. There are no visible stains or salt damage. I don’t know how it looked when it was new. With newly plastered houses, you often see in spring that the salt residue splashes up to the upper floors and leaves stains. This could also be visible on wood at the beginning.