The Affordable Yard Feature That Can Help Hide Unsightly Pipes

When it comes to styling the exterior of your home, there are some things that just cannot look aesthetically pleasing. One common example is when homes have visible exterior pipes. While they are important to your home's functionality and they are not going anywhere, they certainly do not look pretty, even if you try painting them. From hacks for hiding an unsightly water meter in your yard to covering up your garden hose, there are plenty of creative ways to hide all of the necessary but rather ugly exterior features of your home. If you are ready to upgrade your home's outside space, then one brilliant and beautiful method for hiding unappealing pipes is to obstruct the view of the pipes using removable wooden cladding. This affordable solution looks chic and modern, and it makes your home's exterior feel cleaner and more finished. Plus, by making the cladding removable, your important pipes will still be accessible when needed.

Wooden cladding is typically a way of giving a building a finish that is both decorative and protective. It can be horizontal or vertical, and the boards can be side-by-side, touching each other to create a solid barrier, or they can have gaps between them. Their wooden material is attractive, a fairly environmentally friendly material, and quite timeless in its appeal. If you want to try hiding your unsightly outdoor pipes with wooden cladding, you can create your own DIY removable design, which will be affordable if you just cover a portion of the wall. This gives you the flexibility to customize the design to suit your needs and aesthetic preferences, and allows you to set your own budget and stick to it.

To create DIY wooden cladding, you need to start by choosing your wood. Western Red Cedar, Larch, and Accoya are among the best options for wooden cladding, but there are many wood types that will work well. However, you can also use faux wood materials like PVC. Then, you need to determine the size you want your cladding to be. The scale you decide on will influence what method you should choose for your construction so that any pipes are still accessible to you and professionals if the need arises. Real, traditional wooden cladding involves creating a gap between the house and the wooden wall you are creating and extending it around the entire exterior of the house. Pipes and other ugly but important features will fit in the gap between the wood and the house. At these spots, you can leave hidden access locations, such as doors on hinges, that can easily be opened and closed.

You can also try less traditional ideas for a wooden cladding effect. For example, you can use a free-standing privacy wall using wood that will block a small section of the home's exterior, drawing your eye in a positive way to a decorative feature rather than to the offensive pipes. When you need to get to the pipes, you can reach around or move the wooden wall. This is an affordable way to get a kind of wooden cladding effect because it is a project you can DIY.

Installing wooden cladding on an entire house is a fairly intensive project, but it is possible to be completed as a DIY. The process will be rather long and difficult, though. And while this is an affordable project if you just want to cover a small section of the wall, it will be quite expensive if you want to cover the entire house in cladding. Wood for cladding ranges in cost from about $3 to $12 per square meter, which will add up for a large house or surface area. Composite and other materials often cost even more per square meter. While it is more expensive and perhaps less visually appealing, composite materials are easier to maintain over time, saving you some trouble. Wood can show wear over time, so you want to learn about and use this DIY to restore your outdoor wooden features if you decide on solid wood cladding. Having a professional clad your house typically costs between $16,000 and $28,000. If you want to save costs, then cladding a smaller portion of your house or opting for the free-standing DIY kind of option can be a better way to stick to a budget. 

Overall, if you are tired of looking at pipes that ruin the otherwise lovely exterior of your home and are willing to contribute the work or money to improve the vibe, then installing wooden cladding can be a gorgeous and beneficial way to hide what you do not like. Combine the new wooden cladding with some gorgeous exterior design ideas you will want to steal from HGTV's "Home Town," and your outdoor space will look and feel so much nicer.