Whether you want to give your home a facelift, protect it from the elements or add energy-saving insulation, there are so many types of cladding to consider. From ancient wood-working techniques to amazing new materials, we take a look at the options available and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Not only does cedar cladding look great, it is also an effective insulator so it will reduce your energy bills and help your home to retain its heat in winter and stay cool in the summer months. The easy-to-install softwood can be stained any colour, but it's perfectly lovely left its natural rich red, which will fade down to a silvery grey over time. To increase its durability, it's worth sealing cedar wood against water ingress and to protect it from mould and algae.

Larch wood has a rich dark grain, comes in shades of reds through to golden browns and it gains a silvery hue as it ages, which is part of its charm. Larch is a softwood that contains a natural protective resin that gives it a strong resistance to rot and decay. It can be left untreated, but to protect its original colouring and enhance its durability, treating is recommended.

Painted wooden cladding does look quaint and when you tire of the colour you can give your home a mini-makeover and repaint it in a fresh new shade. To stop the wood from rotting and being eaten away by pests it will need to be regularly treated and repainted every few years, which can prove quite expensive in the long term.

The use of charred timber as a building material is an ancient Japanese technique also known as Shou Sugi Ban and Yakisugi. It is now being offered in many finishes from traditional to modern. The charred surface not only looks striking, but it should also be rot, weather, UV, and fire resistant. Pests don't like the charred layer either so it deters them, too. Available in soft and hard woods it's not cheap, but after the initial outlay it requires no further maintenance.

The ultra-compact surface known as Dekton is produced using a high-tech process that reproduces the metamorphic change that natural stone undergoes when subjected to high temperatures and pressure over thousands of years. The resulting material is watertight and UV, ice, heat and scratch resistant. It's also fireproof and can be used for flooring and worktops, as well as cladding. 

This high-tech marble substitute comes in large sheets, which makes it relatively easy to install, and a range of natural stone-inspired colours. This house has been covered in a composite inspired by Calacatta and Carrara marble. Unlike actual marble, this effect can be engineered to match the veins so that they run from slab to slab. This isn't a cheap application, but it's very effective on contemporary architecture.

Fibre cement board is made from a mix of cellulose, fillers and fibres, water and cement. This high-end product is available in a selection of shades or it can be painted to get an exact colour match. The cladding on these colourful houses has been shaped to appear like planks, which are impact, fire, mould, moisture and insect resistant. They are also impervious to the weather and shouldn't crack, swell or warp like wood.

Available in many colours, textures and styles, metal cladding is generally used on industrial and office buildings, but it can be used on residential properties. It is most commonly crafted from aluminium or steel. Steel is the tougher of the two and less likely to mark, but aluminium is easier to install because it's lighter. Both normally come coated with a weatherproof topcoat, which makes them pretty low maintenance.

Wood is a natural insulator and if it's treated and maintained correctly it can last for years. This oak cladding has a pale golden colour that will silver over time. Be aware that all wooden cladding changes colour as it weathers so be sure to research other projects to see how the wood will look in a few years. If it's sourced from a sustainable forest it is also environmentally friendly. Softwoods are cheaper than hardwoods, but they are not quite as durable and generally require more maintenance. For a period feel, lay the wood horizontally. Contemporary styles tend to favour vertical fixing.

Sustainable Accoya wood (also know as acetylated wood) is a hardwood that has had its cellular structure altered to make it rot-proof and water repellent; meaning cladding joints do not open, tolerances remain tight and twist is prevented. Hardwearing, low-maintenance and non-­toxic, Accoya wood also offers superior stability making it an ideal material for exterior cladding applications. In this house clad by US firm Delta Millworks, the wood has been charred using the Japanese technique Shou Sugi Ban, which actually makes the wood more fire retardant and gives it a beautiful black appearance. 

This might look like a traditional solid stone wall, but it is actually created using a veneer. Stone cladding is pasted to the wall much like traditional tiles would be in your bathroom. By changing the windows and doors in your home and adding stone cladding it's possible to completely change the look and feel of your home from a modern to a period-style house. Once it's fitted it requires no further maintenance and adds a layer of insulation to your property.

Stone cladding is now available in a variety of finishes, colours and sizes. Just as it can be used to turn a new-build into a period-style property, it can also be used to dress a building so that it becomes more contemporary in feel. Here, it has been used to create a feature out of vertical sections of the building to add contrast and texture. The wall surface behind the wall being stone clad will need to be treated with a water-proofing material to stop damp penetration.

Brick slips are similar to stone cladding. They are thin brick tiles rarely thicker than 2cm in depth and when laid across a building they look exactly like a solid brick wall. They are fixed with adhesive and then pointed in the same way as traditional bricks. They are available in all standard brick colours and can be used to give a whole home a period makeover. They are generally more expensive than a standard brick though.

Thermowood is created by applying heat and steam to wood to make it more stable and resistant to decay and an enhanced insulator. It's becoming an increasingly popular choice for house cladding. Thermowood's natural brown colour will turn silver over time when exposed to strong sunlight, but if you don't want this silvering effect a treatment can be applied to retain its colouring.

Tile hanging is thought to have originated in 17th century England to provide additional weather protection to the thin wattle and daub walls commonly used for building at that time but here it has been used to give a contemporary home a rich colour and character. Created using roof tiles, it enables water to run quickly off the sides of buildings and adds additional visual interest to your walls. As each of the tiles are hung on the wall individually, it is not a cheap solution.

This rustic wooden cladding is a traditional technique that overlaps planks cut straight from the tree, still bearing a line of bark down one side. Deployed as a means of protecting buildings since the 16th century, boards of larch or elm wood were often painting in a black layer of bitumen to make them water and weatherproof.

Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride or UPVC cladding is designed to look as close as possible to painted wooden cladding. With the more expensive UPVC cladding products it's hard to tell the plastic apart from the real thing without seeing it up close. It's cheaper to buy and install than wood, needs no maintenance and won't rot or corrode. Dirt does collect on it though so it will need a wash down every few years.  Being plastic, UPVC cladding can be moulded into many different incarnations. Is is also available in a variety of colours, although white is normally the cheapest. While shiplap is the most popular arrangement of it, open-v, feather edge and herringbone are also common fixing patterns. For a more contemporary look it is often laid vertically.  

Fixed like roof tiles, thin tapered pieces of wood shingles and shakes are one of the oldest forms of cladding. A shingle is sawn on both sides and is thinner at one end than a shake. A shake is generally split on one or both sides. Common in the United States, both are natural insulators and resistant to strong winds. They are expensive to install and require regular maintenance to keep them in good condition and resistant to rot, but the resulting aesthetic makes it worth

You can cover over traditional brick or breeze block walls with render, which is essentially a plaster designed for external walls. This extra layer of coating will be an additional insulator, it will help to protect your property from damp and the effects of weather and it can be painted. This gives you the opportunity to really make your home stand out from the rest by painting it in a vibrant shade as shown here. Or you could go for a more natural white or cream or an on-trend grey.

The latest technology has made it possible to create coloured render. This is a more expensive process than standard rendering, but it avoids the need for additional painting on top, which would need reapplying every few years. A silicone roughcast render was applied to this property in Polar White but there are a range of colours available including taupes, yellows and greens. Silicone renders have a high degree of water repellency and they offer increased resistance against algae growth and lime bloom

The biggest trend for modern homes is to combine a number of cladding finishes, such as this beautiful home that uses a metal cladding with a vertical join that's known as a standing seam, clean white render and a contemporary stone on the chimney's external flue.