How to Get a New-Build Look with External Render
Does your house need that extra bit of love this year? Then you're in the right place, this blog will tell you all about how to get that clean finish "new build" look on your home. This past year we have all spent more time indoors than usual, but that doesn't mean we can't give that little bit of attention to the exterior of our homes. Whether it's insulating your home to reduce those heating bills, adding a new coat of render with a bold new colour, or even smoothing over that old pebbledash here at the EWI Store we have everything you could possibly need to achieve this!
Rendering your home
So, first things first, what are the benefits or rendering your home? Rendering your home has many advantages, from protecting the brickwork from damp and damage, to modernising the outside aesthetics of your house. Rendering your home may also offer another layer of insulation, keeping your home warmer in the winter months and reducing energy bills. There are many different types of render such as Cement Renders, Lime Renders, Polymer based Renders, Monocouche Renders, Acrylic Renders, and Silicone renders. Silicone renders are growing in popularity due their unique properties over other types of render. Silicone renders are breathable, flexible, hydrophobic, and self-cleaning! The breathability of you render is important because it means that if moisture ever manages to get behind your render, it will be able to get out again, whereas if your render was not breathable, the moisture would stay behind the render, and potentially cause damage to your walls and render. Houses tend to swell in the summer and shrink in the winter months which can cause your render to crack. Cracking is not just worrisome for aesthetic reasons as cracks will create a moisture pathway for rain and moisture to get behind the render system. Once there, moisture can penetrate deeper and cause further cracking. The flexibility that silicone render offers, means that it is very resistant to cracking, more so than any other render and will stand the test of time.
Insulating your home
Externally insulating your home will reduce the amount of heat escaping through your walls, hence will save you money on your heating bill. This also means your home will warm up faster, last longer and reduce carbon emissions. As a result of keeping your walls warm and dry, the External wall insulation can protect the houses structure and improve its weatherproofing, which will in-turn prevent damage and keep your home looking fresh for longer. With different insulation solutions available, why should you use external wall insulation? External wall insulation can be applied with a variety of decorative finishes. This means that not only are you insulating your home, but you are also altering and improving its aesthetics. When externally insulating your home, you can choose between a multitude of different colours and several different textures. Externally insulating your home will cause some disruption, however when you compare this to the disruption caused by Internally insulating your home, it is significantly less and won’t reduce the size of your rooms, unlike Internal wall insulation. Â
Covering up pebbledash
Pebble dash became extremely popular in the 1920’s due to an increase in demand for homes to be built. This led to builders cutting costs and used pebbledash to cover up poor brickwork. In present this has resulted in a dated, and for many an unsightly look that many homeowners are looking to remove. Re-rendering pebbledash without removing pebbledash can be difficult if the right materials aren’t accessible. Removing pebbledash is a painful process, because removing the render requires hard work with a hammer and chisel, with the added risk of damaging the original brickwork. Typically, pebbledash is made from a sand and cement render – an incredibly unforgiving material that was often applied as a means of covering up a bad build job. OCDC is a product that is specifically designed to be applied on top of pebbledash, and it can then be painted or rendered to achieve a modern, updated appearance. The good thing about the OCDC (One Coat Dash Cover) is that it is breathable, so it will help any trapped moisture within the underlying pebbledash to escape. It can also be applied up to 20mm in one pass (up to a maximum of 50mm), so it’s guaranteed to smooth over the pebbledash nicely!
