Larch for cladding

[monkeybusiness]

We are going to extend our house and (subject to planning) are hoping to clad the outside with larch. 
I am currently felling a load of larch and am thinking of buying some from the landowner for this purpose. However, it’s unlikely that I’ll need the cladding until next year in reality.

The larch is being felled because it is infected with phytopthera - it can only be taken off site once de-barked so I’ll mill what I need on site (I can’t remove whole logs for storage). 

What would be the best way of milling/storing the cladding? Is it best to mill/plane it just before use, and store it as full ‘squared logs’/dimensional timber until then? How should this timber be stacked as it will obviously be green? It’s all being used as external cladding so I have no intention of kiln drying it, but I do have plenty of dry internal storage space if necessary. 
Many thanks for any input!

[topchippyles]

2 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

We are going to extend our house and (subject to planning) are hoping to clad the outside with larch. 
I am currently felling a load of larch and am thinking of buying some from the landowner for this purpose. However, it’s unlikely that I’ll need the cladding until next year in reality.

The larch is being felled because it is infected with phytopthera - it can only be taken off site once de-barked so I’ll mill what I need on site (I can’t remove whole logs for storage). 

What would be the best way of milling/storing the cladding? Is it best to mill/plane it just before use, and store it as full ‘squared logs’/dimensional timber until then? How should this timber be stacked as it will obviously be green? It’s all being used as external cladding so I have no intention of kiln drying it, but I do have plenty of dry internal storage space if necessary. 
Many thanks for any input!

You can apply for a licence to process phytopthera on your on premises so may be worth looking into.

[woody paul]

Probably best way to get timber as it's not easy at the moment and only going to get worse. 

[MattyF]

Mill it ASAP .. larch is a nightmare dry to mill.

[Tippin Alaybye]

Why’s that then?

[MattyF]

Why’s that then?

It’s not a fun timber to mill at the best of times that can cause a few issues on a band saw .....but it’s kind of doubled being harder and slower with dry timber.

 

[billy_wizz]

To be fair I've found dry larch to cut very well but we have a 7 inch stenner band saw pick a blade with narrow tips slightly wider than you would for hardwoods and it cuts nice quite often find that some of the springiness relaxes out as well!

[monkeybusiness]

8 hours ago, topchippyles said:

You can apply for a licence to process phytopthera on your on premises so may be worth looking into.

I’m not keen on bringing anything potentially infected home tbh.

[monkeybusiness]

6 hours ago, MattyF said:

Mill it ASAP .. larch is a nightmare dry to mill.

How should I store the milled green timber cladding? It would be a lot to sticker - would that be necessary? Should it be kept indoors once cut?

[topchippyles]

21 minutes ago, monkeybusiness said:

How should I store the milled green timber cladding? It would be a lot to sticker - would that be necessary? Should it be kept indoors once cut?

If you have the room stick space it then band it up and keep it inside until ready 

 

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Edited June 6, 2021 by topchippyles