What to do for the best on the exterior of our house

exterior

We’ve just had our kitchen hacked off, injected and re-rendered because of damp and have now been told the exterior which is pebble dashed has blown.

The house is over 100 years old, end terraced 3 bedroom house, it’s a cold house with slightly higher ceilings approx 9ft. I have been trying to do a bit of research and I’m guessing we need a silicone based render and not the usual and the process will be different to what most builders are used to.

As we are on a tight budget I’m thinking of alternative materials we could use on the exterior and not having it pebble dashed again, although I don't fancy going thru this again in a couple of years. Could someone suggest an effective but cheaper alternative to pebble dash? I have thought of just paint but don't fancy having to paint it every couple of years.

I live in Wales (the UK) so my terms must be different to some of you. "Hacked off" means taken back to the brick, "blown" means the pebble dash has come away from the render allowing water in and causing damp "render" is the concrete applied to the brick and "pebble dash" is like a coating of loads of little stones something we use a lot of on the exterior of houses where I live. Our weather is varied but we hardly get winds stronger than 11mph, we can get cold winters down to -4 °C and a lot of rain and tend to have fairly nice Easter breaks and get short summers. It would be the whole house that needs doing so it would need to be the same.

I'm starting to think this would be the wrong site for me as we use different materials in the UK. Thank you for those who replied, I would still like feedback if you are familiar with UK materials etc however understand if you can't help.

Best Answer

On a budget, Vinyl siding is the most cheapest, cost-effective option.

enter image description here

Pros

  • Fairly easy to install
  • Durable
  • Comes in a ton of colors/styles
  • Low-maintenance (wash yearly, that's about it)

Cons

  • Can be broken by strong impact, and if cracked, there's not really a patch, you just have to replace the entire section
  • Very strong winds can rip siding off (though this is highly subject to the wind angle, style of siding, installation method, strength of fasteners, etc)

To install over top of brick you'll have to install furing strips first. Basically vertical strips that give you a nailing surface, installed every 16" (though siding manufacturer may have specific instructions).

enter image description here

1x3's would be fine, but you can use a different thickness if you're trying to match up with window trim. There's many ways to install but I'd tend to use masonry screws (eg Tapcon).

Related Topic