Anyone rendered their house?

[Babooshka1990]

The brickwork on our 1930’s semi looks quite scruffy, our dream solution is to render the entire frontage in white. Has anyone done similarly? Was it a massive job time wise? How expensive was it? Did it transform your home and was it worth it?

Also, it might be worth looking at Savotherm boards. These would be applied to the wall and then the render applied on top of the. The boards are breathable, fire resistant and provide insulation etc.

I had the equivalent (Savolit) on my timber-framed property. The guy who did the render was very impressed, said it was a doddle to apply the render (as opposed to lathes etc).

Repairing my timber frame was a nightmare - but only took a couple of weeks.

Applying the Savolit boards took a day.

Applying the render took 4 days (2 coats)

Applying the limewash (appropriate for my render) took 3 days (3 coats).

It isn’t as simple retrofitting exterior insulation. If you add exterior insulation you are adding depth. This affects your window openings, your doorways and your roofline. If you’re lucky your roofline might accommodate the insulation but it will look different in any event because your soffits will end up narrow. You’ll need new soffits, you may need to change roof ventilation, extractor fans etc if they’re venting out of soffits. You will then in all likelihood need plumbing and drainage work to get your toilet stack/piping/vent altered to accommodate the insulation, and your drains might need altering if they’re too close to the house. You might need your electricity/gas meters moving too. External insulation is not just a case of whacking up a few boards. They’re thicker than you think.