External Renders?

Builderwoman!

Hi,

About to have outside of our new house plastered...thinking of using white sand and cement (we have to have nap or similar finish per PP) Looking at all options I wonder can anyone shed any light on the various renders available please? Have enquired about a few ready mixed ones which are very expensive. I am told there are others available.
Anyone using render? Any advice would be welcomed please.:)

rooferPete

Hi Builderwoman,

It might be pushing the "nap finish" a little but you ask about a terolene (sp) finish, it would give you a fairly long life finish that you can paint should you choose to later.

White cement was always faily expensive, and depending on your house finish / design you may get tired of it.

Don't be tempted by any of the twenty times thicker than normal paint finishes, they can be very expensive and not needed on a house with good walls.

Sometimes if you look at the house finish and maybe add corner quoins the plaster finish left untouched with the right landscaping can look well.

I think if you stayed with the standard specification and had the finish properly prepared you might find that you will get good value from painting later on because the plaster may end up with a few hair line cracks from settlement.

Just a thought.

.

rooferPete

Sorry,

just had another thought, if you are happy with white how about plastering the house as normal and then applying a limewash finish ?

.

mikewest

Whitewash? ye gods showing your age aren't you.

Now I think I'll crawl back into that nice warm cubbyhole and think about whether this would work with mock sash windows to give that kinda traditional look. Hmm...

rooferPete

Hi mikewest,

Perhaps you might read that post again, I believe I used the term "Lime wash" finish, the most common colour was white but used properly with the right pigments you can have any colour you like

Yep showing my youth because it's on the way back, so many people used sand / cement where it trapped the moisture causing rising damp.

NHL allows the walls to breathe and moisture to escape because the walls are not sealed tight by portland cement which does not allow for movement and seals the damp in the walls.

If age has taught me anything it's to keep an open mind and never stop learning

.

decrrrrrr

Builderwoman... what type of finish to you go for and can you post some of the quotes that you got for renders..?

Tobi2

Hi RooferPete
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but can you please advise where I might get more info/or if you have any on a limewash finish?
We have plastered outside of house, normal run of the mill, but requested plasterer to make it "old fashioned", ie like an old stone house that would have once been whitewashed.
It is exactly what we wanted and fits in perfectly with the old stone whitewashed house that was built many moons ago a stone's throw away.
While I remember the days of whitewash...mainly because my Granny would have had her house done when I was young, I am wondering if we could do the limewash thing on our house?
I know nothing about it, as you can probably tell, so would really appreciate pointers in right direction or where I might get more information.

Many many thanks in advance.
Tobi

JohnBoy

It's basically water and lime with various majical potions mixed in,

My uncle used always throw in a shovel of cement per bag of lime, heard of plasticiser being used too, but don't know the "correct" recipe

rooferPete

Hi Tobi2,

I have a file on Lime secrets but it's over 1.3 mb and I haven't had time to load up my Adobe Pro to edit it.

Since there are so many so many secrets in the file and I can't take your word that you will never part with the info contained therein.

If I email it to ye I am afraid the "Ye Olde Guilde" might re-form and the consequenses could be very terminal for both of us.

Ok send me an email to roofconsult@eircom.net it must be dripping in fresh blood from the thumb print mark, tapest might give you the remainder of "Ye olde code" to enclose.

And you will get the best E-Book on Lime written but never printed

.

JohnBoy

actually, would a few coats of whitewash do anything to improve this sorry sight, or is it a job only fit for a plasterer
http://www.johnlanigan.com/images/dec05/housewall.jpg

rooferPete

Hi john Boy,

Looks like maybe an extension was built, but new opes were made for the windows.

I reckon you have two options, one being a replaster which appears a bit radical because even though it's not a work of art it appears to be working and even the reveal over over the window was marked to form a drip detail.

The second would be to change the colour, the bright colour is showing up all the marks, I think if you can find a person who is good with colour matching (I'm useless) but there is a lot that could be covered up.

Another alternative that might work is to power wash as much of the old paint off, give it a good scud coat and pebble dash it.

Use white cement and lime in the mix and it would come up a Daz whiter than white, it wouldn't need painting except at windows and reveals.

Dashing done by a skilled plasterer can look very well, I wouldn't recommend plastering over it because there is a chance the new plaster would pull the old off in time and you are back to where you started.
.

YAPP

Color render System

we had this put on our house.
its not much more expensive than sand cement render
and it requires no painting.
it comes in white, ivory, cream, and brown tha i know of.

the only problem with our gaff is that the crew who plastered it
didnot make a good job of finishing it to a high standard, and its
only as good as the last man who leaves it...... but i've seen it on
plenty other houses, and its great i think.

theres an estate in ballyhaunis, mayo which has it on all houses in different shades and they look good!

in time: dont paint it,. steam clean it and its liek new,
or if you change your mind on the colour, then paint it,
less scaffold hire time during build is a big advantage also.;)

(its mixed in a special mixer, and the color is in each bag with the machine allowing the right amount of water per batch...)

Sean

Tobi2

RooferPete, I am kind of scared now....Will I understand any of it??
Don't have broadband either.......will it take years to download?

Tobi

rooferPete

Hi Tobi2,

I will find the time to load up Adobe Pro and edit out the pages you need, now surely a little blood to join "Ye Olde crafts" isn't scarin Ye

Hi Yapp,

There's a restaurant down the road from us where they had the same problem great product but a terrible finish on one of the gables.

No offence John Boy but it makes your photo look good, hard to understand how they got the rest to look so well and make a mess of what is one of the features of the building.

.

Builderwoman!

Dcrrr..went for white sand and cement in the end. Looks great with the black windows etc. Very happy with it. Could have got monaquche (not sure of spelling) for about €1500 more. This is the render that's sprayed on over the cement blocks (no scratch coat...hence the small difference in price) but would not like the idea of no scratch coat in cast of any issues in the future..think it's a grand finish for builders and developers who can walk away and not worry about the future of the extrerior. My opinion! Got prices for other renders at about €14k - it was from A&A Insulation in Mullingar. Very nice finish. Expensive and would not be sure that you could paint over it in 15 years time. So ruled it out. Got another quote of 150€ per bucket plus extra costs from one of the suppliers Pete mentioned. We would have spent a fortune on the product alone never mind the labour. Again the guy told me you "could perhaps" paint over it in the future with acrylic paint. So in the end we opted for white sand and cement, cos we know we can paint over it in the future if and when it gets dirty looking. Our plasterer is really particular (Thank God!) and doing a really fine job on the white sand and cement. If we had all that info Pete has on lime wash a couple of weeks back we may well have looked at that. Again an old tried and tested finish. Good luck with whatever you choose.

JohnBoy

I wouldn't be mad for the pebble dashing myself, I feel it can be a bit overused in this country, I'd like to keep the house white, and all this crap plaster is at the back of the house, not the end of the world like.

I was pondering that a powerwash and a few coats of whitewash might smooth out some of the ripples a bit.

the house has been extended/remodelled at least 3 times in the last 50-100 years, so there's quite a mixture to it, but the whole lot was replastered when the last major change was made (believed to be 20-30 years ago) except for the back wall.

This is still all wishful thinking, offer goes in today (everything shall be crossed, even bits that aren't supposed to be crossable)

On the topic of tyrolean (spelling?) has it improved much beyond the product that was applied with the wheely, flinging machine back in the seventies?

If not, i would say it's a grand finish for about twenty years or so, but by god when the day comes to paint it it takes a lot of brushwork to get the paint to cover well the first time you paint it.

once in twenty years ain't bad i guess though

rooferPete

Hi,

The details I have are fairly technical and most people intersted in Lime Wash or similar fimilar finishes will want to buy the products as well, try this link
www.traditionallime.com

I recommend the link to St Astier paints colour chart, sure beats the white usually though of when lime is mentioned

.