Thread: Help! Pre-primed or cypress cladding?

"Treated on the cuts" basically means "painted" so you should really brush some undercoat on the cut ends before installing, but as long as your painter does a good job, I don't think it'll matter too much. Some of the pre-primed stuff is also treated so its insect and rot resistant.

That's my 2c, you might get better answers posting in the renovators section (right down the bottom of the home page)

Cypress does like to be pre drilled ie it can split, bad. But it is naturally resistant to pests, good.
preprimed is (my understanding) just radiata pine which is a soft wood, bad. But it goes on fast, good.
"some" builders do look for the easy way because just that it's easier.
both your builder and supplier are correct.
The builder fears that using cypress will slow the work and cost money by adding labour cost. If the builder takes the advice of the supplier and doesn't pre drill (there is no guarantee that fresh boards won't split if not pre drilled) and a board splits you have lost time and material, cost. Or if the split is not too bad builders bog can be mixed and applied, additional cost. Your supplier will not reimburse your builder if it splits without drilling, so your builder obviously has apprehension. The finished look will not be dissimilar either board but pine boards will rot faster than cypress if the painting and maintenance is not kept pristine.
for instance they use cypress pine posts for fence posts they do not use radiata pine posts for fence posts.
if it was my house and I was going to be in the house in 10 years time I would go for cypress because I would be putting the boards on myself and my time costs me very little, I would probably pre drill too. I also know that in 10 years time I won't repaint, repair or touch up the paint cos I don't like painting. Not true I would actually paint it very well so I did not have to repaint touch up in 10 years. So you need to weigh up the variables, material, labour and likely hood of maintenance

Thanks so much! Very useful info! We are planning on staying in this house for many years to come so we are now leaning toward Cypress. At the end of the day we want a durable product, so I'd rather put the extra effort and money in now, that go for the quicker option and be diappoitinted in the long run. Any tips on the best primer to use?

Has anyone had experience with cypress in regard to how stable it is ,all my experience(not as weather boards) has seem it twist and warp?

The cypress is more durable.
Priming the cut ends is the most important part.
Prime it on the face (at least) and 1 coat of top coat (or use a primer/top coat in your final colour), before it goes up, so that if it shrinks (it will), you don't get stripes.
I would pre-drill cypress.
Good luck,
TM

TM, I was told I would be fine to prime after they went up, as Cypress has a minimal shrinkage rate (<2%). Bad advice?

The most important thing is priming the cut ends.
If your sure it's not going to shrink, you can prime it later.
I would prime it in the final colour before it went up, but that's me (I've been caught out before).
cheers,
TM