Why You Should Consider Render For The Exterior Walls Of Your Home

If you live in a home which was built more than 20 years ago, the exterior walls may well be showing signs of wear or decay. This is hardly surprising since we have a range of different weather in the UK and the walls can get very heated in the summer sun, suffer from wind, rain, frost, snow, all of which can have an effect on the appearance of a home and can also affect the structure over time.

The exterior walls may be of brick, stone, flint, concrete blocks, and more and may have a variety of different finishes that have been applied with the object of making the home look beautiful. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and what looks great to one person might look terrible to another.

Walls can be of natural brick which will weather over time, and in addition the pointing can deteriorate. In some areas, flint has been used for centuries and this is a very hard-wearing stone that can shrug off the weather. Painted walls will look great when first painted, but the paint won’t last very many years before the home begins to look drab and needs repainting.

Many homes have limestone walls and these can be subject to weathering since limestone is a fairly soft rock.

Then there are homes that have solid brick walls, which applies to those before about 1935 in the UK. After that time cavity walls were introduced, which have two walls, an inner one which supports the building and an outer one which is used as a protective covering. All brick walls are subject to heat loss in the home, as heat produced inside the home will heat the walls, but this heat will evaporate as it hits the outside.

This is why cavity walls were introduced, as a sort of barrier against heat loss because the gap between the two walls is full of air and reduces the loss of heat. Furthermore, the cavity helps to prevent the transfer of damp from the outer wall to the inner one. Today, insulating materials are often pumped into the cavity to help reduce heat loss still further.

Of course, there are many ways of adding cladding to the outside walls of a house. Options include timber, brick, render, stone, PVCu, tiling, fibre cement, modern synthetic materials, and more.

One material that is being used more and more today is render. This is because it has a range of properties, depending on the composition of the render, is simple to apply, and will provide a superb finished look to the building. Many people choose to add render to the exterior walls of their home with the main objective of quickly changing the appearance from drab to outstanding. An external render will cover up any defects such as damaged pointing, cracks, and so on, and will last for many years. It can also help with preventing damp from penetrating the walls.

Render can contain a number of different additives, such as acrylic, silicone, and so on. Acrylic render has acrylic resin added to the cement base and is a form of plastic. It helps to give elasticity to the render which prevents cracking. Acrylic render is waterproof and stain resistant but doesn’t actually let the wall breathe. This means that it should not be used on walls where there is a problem with damp or condensation inside the home.

Another type of render is flexible synthetic silicone render which has silicone added, as you might guess, and is extremely weather resistant. It is very suitable for use in areas with severe weather conditions, such as on the coast.

One manufacturer of silicone render is called K Rend and it provides the render in 20 different colours so that no painting is ever necessary. K Render in Cheltenham could be a very good choice for those who want to spruce up the walls of the home and make it look brand new again. This silicone render is highly water-repellent yet still allows water vapour to pass through the render, therefore allowing the substrate to breathe, which can be critical with some walls, although not with others. A contractor will be able to advise you about this.

UK Spray Rendering is a rendering contractor who can supply and install a wide selection of different renders for your home, including K Render in Cheltenham. The company uses a method called spray rendering which is much quicker than rendering by hand and can produce a variety of different finishes.

UK Spray Rendering can carry out any external rendering in Guildford using any of the renders described in the foregoing and including other renders such as monocouche render, K-Rend, and Greuraso Plus reinforced render.