Comparing Pine and Cedar Wood Panels for Your Home

When it comes to home construction and remodeling, it’s important that you get the best materials that you can afford on your budget. At all times, you’ll want a great combination of durability, aesthetics, and ease of installation. If you’ve been looking at the products here on The Woodworkers Shoppe, you would have come across two of our most popular material options. These are interior pine paneling and interior cedar siding. While there are some inherent truths about either material, the end product that we offer will actually surprise you when it comes to some of the overused wood species stereotypes.

Let’s take a look at the basic differences between the two materials, and why it’s more of a matter of taste when it comes to interior cedar siding and pine paneling products.

Cedar is the Better Material… at Least That’s What You’ve Probably Been Told

As a construction and finishing material, cedar is revered for a number of reasons. It is durable, energy efficient, and it is highly resistant to moisture and decay. With good white cedar panels, it wouldn’t be unusual to see the timber last for the lifetime of a home, far beyond your generation. This is one of the reasons that cedar has been traditionally used for log homes and other construction projects.  Cedar wood panels can stand up to inclement weather, as well as harsh temperature extremes. Interior cedar siding also makes a great-looking finish for inside your home.

In comparison to cedar paneling, pine is not as resilient in its raw state. However, interior pine paneling and exterior pine products can be made to meet the same standards, as long as you are purchasing from a reputable timber product supplier. While pine doesn’t have the same natural preservatives, special treatments can make it just as durable as cedar, for a much lower price. Pine might not be considered as ‘classic’ a material as our interior cedar siding, but it can still look beautiful in any home, particularly when you choose products like knotty pine paneling.

There’s Another Reason that Interior Pine Paneling Can be a Better Choice

To get cedar that is fit for construction, you will usually be looking at old growth wood. All of our tongue and groove cedar planks come from ethical and sustainable sources, but there is still the fact that it takes cedar longer to mature, especially when compared to pine. Knotty pine paneling comes from renewable forests that are regularly harvested and replanted. Considering that treated pine has a life cycle comparable to cedar, the use of pine is much more environmentally friendly, and because it matures faster, it is much more affordable.

Choosing Between Cedar Paneling and Pine Panels for Your Home

When it comes down to it, you can expect functional similarities from all of our interior cedar siding and pine paneling products. If you have previously been concerned about the longevity of pine when compared to our cedar wall panels, you should now know that the differences are minor when you consider treated materials. At the end of the day, your biggest considerations are going to be aesthetic and price.

If you are finishing a room or an entire home on a tight budget, then you will probably want to go for a stained pine product. If price is not the major factor and you love the look of cedar, then you should already know what your choice is going to be. With the stains that are available, you can get comparable looks with most materials, and you should not consider pine as a low end material, because it’s affordability is more of a reflection of production cost, rather than on the quality of the final product. Think of pine as an alternate choice to interior cedar siding, not as an inferior one.

Easy Installation with Either Cedar or Pine

Whether you choose pine or white cedar paneling, you’ll get the same level of quality and design. We use a special matched tongue and groove system on all of our prefinished panels, which can reduce installation time and material waste. Because you won’t need to worry about making unnecessary cuts to meet stud patterns on your walls, you’ll be able to get more use out of our standard panel lengths. End matching and the tongue and groove system means that there is less fitting and nailing, and you’ll be left with a perfect seal between every piece of material. Whether you’re going to remodel as a DIY project, or if you’re going to hire a contractor, you’ll end up better off and with a reduced budget when compared to some competing products.

Half a century ago, you would be right to choose cedar wall planks over pine. However, today’s treatment and manufacturing methods mean that the functional and life cycle differences are not so black and white. We stand behind all of our products, no matter the wood species, and our range is aimed at providing you with great choices, rather than forcing you to make compromises.

Browse our store today to view all of our beautiful pine paneling and interior cedar siding. We offer a range of dimensions to meet any project, and you can choose the right trim and molding, as well as the desired stain to meet your aesthetic ideals.