It’s a useful ability to know how to render walls. Knowing when your property requires rendering and how much it will cost is much more beneficial. It’s also a good idea to check ahead of spring so you can schedule someone to conduct the work when the weather is nicer.

Changing and upgrading the outside of your house is one of the most efficient methods to increase the value of your home, and fresh render is one of the most cost-effective ways to do it. The exterior of your home is the first thing that visitors or potential buyers will see, so ensuring that it has as much kerb appeal as possible is critical, especially if the current exterior is in poor condition or is made up of a variety of mismatched materials.

For homes with solid walls, render can be sand and cement or a flexible, breathable polymer modified render. On antique structures, it can disguise poor-quality or mismatched brickwork, while on modern ones, it can give a clean finish. It can be pre-coloured or painted afterwards. Render can be used in conjunction with brick or timber cladding to give architectural flair, and it can also be used in conjunction with exterior insulation to warm up a draughty home.

HOW MUCH DOES RENTING YOUR HOUSE COST?

External rendering with a sand and cement scratch coat,’ a finer render topcoat, and two coats of external masonry paint will cost between £40 and £60 per m2. Rendering and painting a typical three-bedroom semi-detached house with 80m² of walls would consequently cost £3,200–£4,800.

You may want to utilise this opportunity to add insulation to a solid walled house or if the cavity is too shallow to apply adequate amounts of insulation. Because no space or architectural feature is lost within the home, an exterior wall insulation system is typically a better alternative than insulating internally in this instance.

There are a variety of exterior wall insulation methods available, but most of them are only available through professionals and are not available to the DIY market.

External insulation with a render finish costs between £70 and £90 per m2. A typical three-bedroom semidetached house would take up 80m2 and cost £5,600–£7,200 to build.

WHICH TYPE OF RENDER FINISH DO YOU PREFER?

Render comes in a variety of colours and may be used to produce a smooth, textured, or patterned surface. Consider the sort of render you use: ancient, historic structures will benefit from lime render with a textured or patterned surface, whilst modern, silicone-based renders that are flexible, breathable, low-maintenance, and smooth in finish will suit contemporary dwellings.

The concrete renderings that were commonly utilised until recently have been replaced by modern renders. The average price per square metre is a little about £60.

Lime render: For older properties, lime render is the finest solution. It’s pliable and breathable, making it ideal for damp-proofing historic homes.

Cement render is the most common choice for exterior walls. It can be mixed on-site, and the components are inexpensive, but when two to three coats are required, labour expenses quickly pile up. To keep it looking new, it must be repainted on a regular basis.

Polymer render: Polymers and other plastics are added to cement or lime-based renders to assist avoid cracking. They can be through-colored, which eliminates the need for painting.

Acrylic render is frequently used as a top coat over previously applied finishes. Silicone can be used to extend the life of the product and eliminate the need for cleaning.

Monocouche render: In French, monocouche means “single bed” or “single coat,” implying that just one coat is necessary. The product is made of cement and arrives pre-mixed with water, ready to be troweled or sprayed on. Purchased at a high cost, but simple to install, you can recoup the material expenses through lower labour and maintenance expenditures. They are self-cleaning, will not crack, and are pre-colored, so there is no need to paint them.

 

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO RENDERING A WALL

Whether you conduct the job yourself or hire a contractor, you must first understand the procedure in order to organise it around the rest of your project.

1. GETTING THE WALLS IN ORDER

Before a building’s walls are rendered, they should be inspected, with structural faults repaired and any movement stabilised; otherwise, the render finish will likely fail. Any new finish is only as good as the wall it is installed against.

2. DETAILS ON THE OUTSIDE

External elements such as bargeboards, rainwater and soil pipes, and other external details such as alarm boxes may frequently need to be removed. Any vents will need to be enlarged, and window sills may need to be extended as well. To give smooth margins for the render, metal stop and angle beads are put around the window and door openings, corners (or the edges of a terraced property), and corners (or the edges of a terraced property). After that, the render system may be used.

3. INSULATION

External wall insulation is commonly applied in the form of stiff boards or slabs before the render layer is applied. Depending on the kind of wall — mechanically attached or bonded to the walls — the manner of fastening must be chosen.

4. LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE RENDER TO FIX

The insulation is then covered with a cloth render mesh that is bedded into the initial base coat layer of render. This mesh functions as a crack-resistant reinforcing. Then one or two additional thin layers of render, generally a primer and a topcoat, are applied.

5. CONSTRUCTION OF THE RENDER

Different layers of insulation, such as expanded polystyrene (EPS), mineral fibre (Rock Fibre), and phenolic foam, are used to construct unique systems (more expensive but superior performance). Various types of render, such as polymer cement, silicone, and acrylic, are also utilised with exterior wall insulation systems, depending on the application and desired finish.

6. COMPLETE THE FINISHES

Thin coat render systems are intended to be self-coloured and hence do not require painting. Different finishes, from very smooth to textured, are available in addition to a variety of colours. If your Design development Rendering will need to be painted, make sure you choose weatherproof exterior paint.

7. COMPLETE FINISHES

Finally, exterior rainfall and soil pipelines, among other things, can be reinstalled. The entire procedure should take around three to four weeks.