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uPVC Shiplap Cladding
The weatherboard look without the painting — three widths, five colours, and every trim to finish the job.
uPVC Shiplap Cladding Shop
Shiplap is the cladding most people picture when they think of a clad wall: overlapping boards with a shadow line running across them, the look of painted timber without any of the painting. These are uPVC, so they don't rot, they don't need a coat of anything every couple of years, and a wet winter does them no harm.
The full shiplap range — boards, trims and fixings. Carriage free over £150 ex VAT.
Which width do you need?
Width is mostly a look, not a performance decision — all three boards are the same uPVC, fix the same way and weather the same. What changes is how busy the wall reads. Narrower boards give you more lines across the elevation and suit smaller areas; wider boards give a calmer, more modern face and go up quicker because there are fewer of them.
100mm Open V Shiplap Cladding
The Open V profile has a V-groove down the middle, so a single board reads as two narrow ones. It's the busiest of the three and the one to pick if you're after a traditional tongue-and-groove look on a shed, a porch ceiling or a feature panel.
It's also the board to pick if you want the cladding running vertically — see the next section.
The symmetrical V-groove means the profile reads correctly whichever way you run it.
125mm Shiplap Cladding
The middle width and the one that sells most. It's the closest match to the timber shiplap it usually replaces, which makes it the safe choice when you're cladding part of a wall and want it to sit naturally against what's already there.
150mm Shiplap Cladding
The widest board, and the quickest to cover a large area. Fewer boards means fewer joints and fewer fixings, so on a big gable or a garden room it saves real time. It's also the one that reads most contemporary.
Horizontal or vertical?
Most cladding goes on horizontally, because that is what cladding has always looked like. Boards running across the wall, a shadow line every 125 or 150mm, the weatherboard finish you see on dormers, porches and half a million refurbished semis. That is what the 125mm and 150mm shiplap are for, and if you are matching or replacing existing boarding it is the only sensible answer.
Vertical is the other way to do it, and that is where the 100mm Open V comes in. Boards running floor to roof, a clean line every 100mm, and no horizontal joints reading across the elevation. It is the finish on almost every garden room, studio and modern rear extension going up at the moment, particularly in anthracite against a white roofline. It makes a low building look taller, and it reads as something that was designed rather than something that was repaired.
The difference is in the profile. Shiplap laps over the board below it, which is exactly what you want when water is running down the face of the wall. The Open V has a symmetrical V-groove down the middle instead, so it looks right whichever way you run it — vertical, horizontal, or on the diagonal if you are after a feature panel.
Beyond that they are the same job. Same battens, same trims, same five colours, same fixing. So the decision is about the look you want, not about cost or difficulty.
Rule of thumb. Matching existing boarding, or cladding a house, a dormer or a porch — 125mm or 150mm, horizontal. Building something new that you want to look modern — 100mm Open V, vertical.
The trims that go with it
Shiplap on its own doesn't finish a wall. The trims are what stop water getting behind the boards and what makes the job look like it was done by someone who's done it before. Here's what each one is actually for.
Starter Trim, 34mm — the first thing on the wall. It gives the bottom board something to clip into and sets the line for everything above it. Get this level and the rest of the wall is level. Get it wrong and you'll be chasing it all the way up. White and Dark Brown.
Two-Part Angle Trim — for 90° corners, internal or external. Two parts: a back section you fix to the wall, and a face that clips over once the boards are in. That's what lets you cut the boards slightly short and still have a tight corner.
Two-Part Edge Trim — finishes a cut edge where the cladding stops, against a window reveal or at the end of a run. Same two-part clip system as the angle. This one also comes in Irish Oak.
Joint Trim — for runs longer than a single 5m board. It covers the joint and leaves room for the boards to move, which they will.
Drip Trim — goes above doors and windows and throws rainwater clear of the opening instead of letting it run down the face and in.
Butt Joint — the cheap one that saves a lot of bother. Clips over a board-to-board joint mid-run. Sized to match the board — 100mm, 125mm or 150mm — so order the one that fits what you're fitting.
Stainless Steel Cladding Nails, pack of 250 — 25mm or 30mm, annular ring shank. Stainless matters here. Galvanised nails will rust-streak down a white board within a couple of winters and there's no getting it off.
Colours
The boards come in White, Rosewood, Golden Oak, Anthracite Grey and Black Ash. The foiled colours are a woodgrain finish bonded to the board rather than a paint, so they don't fade back to white at the edges the way a painted finish does.
Worth knowing before you order: not every trim comes in every colour. The boards, angle, edge, joint, drip and butt joints all run in the five main colours, and the edge trim adds Irish Oak. The starter trim is White or Dark Brown only — it sits behind the bottom board where nothing sees it, so that's rarely a problem, but check it against your order.
If you're matching an existing wall and you're not certain which colour you're looking at, ring us before you order. It's a two-minute conversation and it's cheaper than a return.
Working out how much you need
Measure the area you're cladding in square metres — height times width, and take off anything you're not covering, like a door or a window over about a metre square. Divide by the coverage of one board to get your board count, then add about 10% for cuts. If the wall is full of openings, make it 15%; you'll cut more and waste more.
Then the trims. Starter trim runs the full width along the bottom. Angle trim is the height of each corner. Edge trim goes anywhere the cladding stops against something. Drip trim goes across the top of every door and window. Joint trim only comes in if a run is longer than 5m.
If you'd rather not work it out, send us the measurements and we'll price the lot up for you. We do it most days.
Product | Product Code | Cover Width mm | Overall Width mm | Depth mm | Coverage m2 Per Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
100mm Open V Shiplap Cladding | OV100 | 95 | 125 | 18.5 | 0.475 |
125mm Shiplap Cladding | SC125 | 125 | 155 | 18.5 | 0.625 |
150mm Shiplap Cladding | SC150 | 150 | 180 | 18.5 | 0.75 |
Cover width is what you actually see once the board is fitted. The extra 30mm on every board in the range is the interlock and nail flange, which the board above hides. Use the cover width when you are working out how many boards a wall takes — never the overall.
Depth is how far the board stands off the battens — worth knowing when you are working out how the cladding meets a window reveal or a door frame.
Fitting it
Shiplap goes on battens, not straight onto brick. The battens want to run at right angles to the boards — so vertical battens for horizontal cladding — which leaves an air gap behind the wall so anything that does get past the face can drain and dry.
Start with the starter trim, dead level. Work up, clipping each board into the one below and fixing through the nail flange at the top, never through the face of the board. uPVC moves with temperature, so leave a gap at the ends of every board where it meets a trim — the two-part trims are designed to hide exactly that gap.
There's a full fitting walkthrough on the uPVC shiplap installation video if you'd rather watch it than read it.
Shiplap or Coastline composite?
Both clad a wall and both are effectively maintenance-free, so it comes down to budget and finish. Shiplap is uPVC, lighter, cheaper per metre and quicker to fit — it's the sensible answer for sheds, garages, garden rooms, dormers and anywhere you're covering an area and want it to look tidy and stay that way.
Coastline composite cladding is a heavier board made partly from recycled material, with a deeper embossed woodgrain and a more solid feel under the hand. It costs more and takes longer to fit, and on a front elevation where people will be standing close to it, plenty of customers think that's money well spent.
If you're cladding the back of a garage, shiplap. If you're cladding the front of the house and the budget stretches, have a look at both.
Frequently asked questions
Can I fit uPVC shiplap cladding over an existing wall?
Yes, and that's how most of it goes on. It fixes to battens over brick, block or timber. You don't need to strip anything off first, as long as what's underneath is sound and dry.
Does shiplap cladding need painting?
No. The colour goes right through the board or is bonded to it as a foil, so there's nothing to repaint. It wants a wash down with warm soapy water once or twice a year and that's the whole maintenance job.
What's the difference between shiplap and Open V?
Shiplap has one shadow line per board where it overlaps the one below. Open V has that plus a V-groove down the middle, so each board looks like two. It's a cosmetic difference — they fit the same way and perform the same.
Can shiplap cladding be fitted vertically?
The 100mm Open V can, and it is a popular way to fit it. The V-groove runs down the centre of the board rather than lapping over the one below, so the profile reads correctly on the vertical — or on the diagonal if you want a feature panel. Vertical Open V in a dark colour is the finish you will have seen on most new garden rooms and studios. The 125mm and 150mm shiplap boards are lapped to shed water running down them, so those go on horizontally.
Can uPVC shiplap cladding be used inside?
Yes. It's common in garages, workshops, utility rooms and outbuildings because it wipes clean and doesn't mind damp. For a bathroom or a kitchen splashback you'd be better off with a proper wall panel.
How long does uPVC shiplap cladding last?
Decades, in normal use. Eurocell's uPVC roofline and cladding products carry a long manufacturer guarantee and the boards routinely outlast the fixings around them. The thing that shortens its life is bad fitting — no expansion gap, or no ventilation behind it — not the material.
Do you deliver shiplap cladding?
Yes, across mainland UK. You can also collect. We don't currently deliver to the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. Full delivery costs and lead times.