External Wall rendering

lauraj27

Hi

We are looking to get the rendering of our external walls done; in reality there is only one wall that really needs doing.

We had our first quote and it came out at £15K for the whole house. There is no way we can afford this and whilst we appreciate that scaffolding and labour will all need to be involved the company recommends doing the whole house rather than patching up /doing one wall.

We are looking to get some other quotes but if they come out at a similar price we won't be able to get it done.

Just wondered if anyone had any tips of how we could go about getting it done that won't cause us to go bankrupt.

Thank you

FreeBear

How wide/tall is the property ?
Is it solid brick (or stone) construction, or cavity ?
Are the walls already rendered ?
What sort of finish are you wanting ?


All of the above will affect the cost.

stuart45

A cheaper way would be to find a plasterer and do some of the hacking off and labouring yourself. It depends on how hands on you want to be.
The area you live in makes a difference to the price, but £250 a day should get you a decent Spread.

lauraj27

Not sure how tall/wide the property is - it's a semi detached 3 bedroom house with a ground floor and an upstairs.

They are solid brick walls - no cavity walls as it was built in 1920s.

There is already rendering on the house - looks to be bog standard plastering that has been painted; nothing too fancy like pebble-dashing or anything.

In terms of finish we are not too bothered we just want the rendering that is cracked to be repaired.


Hope that makes sense.

FreeBear

So pretty standard inter-war house. Allow something in the region of £2K for scaffolding and another £5K to £7K for a complete render.

If you just want the cracks patched up, and the work can be done from a scaffold tower, then I would expect the bill to be well under £1K

In either case, whilst access is available, check the state of gutters & soffits/bargeboards and get them painted or repaired as necessary.

strawb_shortcake

One of our neighbours was quoted £30,000 for re-rendering their detached cottage, he decided to do it himself and completed it for £5k.
I'm waiting for my OH to fix the cracks on the front of our house but think it'll be quicker to pay someone - I assume a general builder could do this?

TELLIT01

If the render is roughcast concrete you may get away with filling the cracks and then painting the entire wall. That will be much cheaper than a complete re-render. If it's pebbledash or similar, patching is not really practical.

Davesnave

lauraj27 wrote: »

Hi

We are looking to get the rendering of our external walls done; in reality there is only one wall that really needs doing.
.....................whilst we appreciate that scaffolding and labour will all need to be involved the company recommends doing the whole house rather than patching up /doing one wall.

Well, there's a surprise! When we had our bungalow re-rendered there was no big problem leaving one end, where things were OK, and doing the rest.

I also cut the cost by taking off the old render myself and prepping the surfaces; easier on a bungalow, but no different if there's suitable scaffolding erected once the lower areas are done. I spent around £200 on a suitable (not too heavy) drill, SDS bits and SBR and saved several days worth of labour.

A local tradesperson with a good reputation was happy to go along with this, provided I let him do the rest, including the slurry coat. Knocking off old render isn't exactly skilled, interesting or fun!

MX5huggy

Rendering a wall is covered by building regulations, you are required to improve the insulation on any solid wall. (I accept a lot of people don’t).

You should be able to get External Wall Insulation installed for the cost you’ve been quoted. Contact your local council for any installers offering ECO funding in your area.

FreeBear

MX5huggy wrote: »

Rendering a wall is covered by building regulations, you are required to improve the insulation on any solid wall.

Not just solid walls. Any wall, roof, or ceiling that has more than 25% of the covering replaced should have insulation upgraded or added. There are a couple of get out clauses to this requirement - If insulation is not technically or functionally feasible and/or the return on investment is less than 15 years, alternative energy saving measures can be used.

Of the houses round here that have had external wall insulation added, the majority look pig ugly now. The detailing around bay windows, and deep window recesses do little for "kerb appeal".

MX5huggy

GloriousEuropa wrote: »

How did it cost £5k DIY?

You can buy a lot of sand and cement (possibly to odd bottle of plastersiser) for £5k.