# Forum More Stuff Go to Whoa!  Reclad home with vinyl, cement fibre or polystyrene foam and render. PLEASE HELP!

## Davem111

First time poster here. Have been following many other posts and this place is a wealth of knowledge. I am hoping some users can assist as we have a huge decision and a short time-frame. 
So here is the backstory.. my wife and I bought an old vinyl clad house in Regents Park NSW. We were initially going to knockdown and rebuild our first McMansion but due to some unexpected unrelated expenses we are now opting instead to doing a complete renovation and extension of the existing property. I have opted to go owner builder with a full time on-site project manager to try to reduce the overall expense. We are demolishing the rear of the property and adding a 75m2 internal living space/kitchen opening to a 38m2 deck. We are also renovating existing bathroom into an ensuite, adding an additional bathroom and laundry. 
We are removing the existing cladding, the asbestos boarding behind it and looking to reclad the existing home and extension. My wife and I love the storybook Hamptons style look but are coming to terms that it is going to be hard to achieve with this single story home. Initially we were going to reclad with new vinyl cladding however after some research we are finding that the property may still look like a 1960s clad house. Our neighbor has just reclad his house with vinyl cladding and honestly it doesn't look like it has been newly done. Now we are thinking we will need to go towards fibre cement cladding which our project manager initially told us to steer clear from due to the expense of painting and the maintenance. However, we may need to do this to get that storybook hamptons feel. We are looking to have the clad a dark grey and white framed windows. 
Now the project manager has come back to me and is recommending we go for a polystyrene foam and spray rendered option. We have looked at a couple of properties with this product in the area but they are all new developments with the product being used on the second story with brick first floor. As our house is on stumps I am unsure if this rendered look will work. At the rear of the property it will be ok because we can just follow the deck down to the ground but what would you do on the sides of the house? The highest gap will be approx 1.5m towards the rear of the property. I am finding it impossible to find any photos on the net where renovations are done with foam and render on a house with stumps? Understand also that foam option has the added benefit of increased insulation. 
Unfortunately we need to make a decision quite quickly as they have started to remove existing cladding. Will need to make a decision in the next 2-3 weeks. 
Sorry for the long post and complete lack of technical knowledge on my part. Would really appreciate any assistance you could give.

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## Davem111

Some photos

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## OBBob

Is this a Storeybook Hamptons style?     
Are you planning to replace the windows? Often the details are the hard bit to deal with when considering new claddings because they may not line up too well with what's staying (differing depths etc.). 
It seems to be that the cottage look you are after is somewhat defined by weatherboards rather than a rendered look. Have you considered fibre cement weatherboards?

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## Davem111

That is definitely the Storybook Hamptons home we are talking about.  
Yes you are correct, to get that look we will need to go for cement fibre weatherboards. Do you know if it is much more expensive than vinyl. Considering we will need to paint the whole house I imagine this will add around $8k to the cost. We would be keeping the existing aliminium windows and spraying them white. We would also be adding a white border/frame around the windows. 
Essentially I think vinyl is crossed off the list. It is now a race between cement fibre weatherboard and foam/render. Just really hard to picture the relation between the foam/render and the gaps under the house.

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## OBBob

No idea of the costs. If you aren't doing it yourself shouldn't your PM arrange some quotes for you to consider?  
I assume you're sure there aren't existing weatherboards under that cladding?  
Have you considered insulating the walls whilst you are there?

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## Davem111

Yeah the PM is arranging some quotes for us.  
Just some asbestos boarding behind the existing cladding. 
Good idea to think about insulation whilst the external walls are off.

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## OBBob

To be honest I think it would be very valuable to spend some time on google images and track down a renovated house that's a little closer to what you have. The storeybook one above is not only defined by the weatherboards but its height (as you identified), steep pitched roofs and dormer windows - none of which you really have. It'll be sooooo much easier if you can find something that is similar and you can prenst to your PM and say "give me this". It's not an unusual house, so this shouldn't be too difficult.

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## Davem111

Yeah totally understand and this is my biggest issue. I can locate plenty of similar houses that have been renovated with cladding. Actually one house just around the corner is pretty close to what we think we will realistically achieve (photo below). 
It is trying to find examples of similar houses with the foam render renovation that we are after to see if it works for our house style which is proving difficult. I have done heaps of searches and they all result with either new builds or second story additions. My PM says it will add plenty of value to the property but we really want to know how it will work. I will ask the builder who has quoted if they have any similar jobs in the area but I suspect not as they primarily deal with developments.

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## r3nov8or

This document mentions working with "existing piers or stumps".  http://www.peachester.com.au/hebel-r...est_170911.pdf 
The control joint at the floor/subfloor break is very important (as are all control joints). See page 28 for exposed and hidden subfloor options.

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## Davem111

Thanks for that. So they are saying to simply continue the facade down to the ground. How do you get ventilation in under the subfloor / do you need ventilation? Sorry I am new to this.

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## joynz

In the Go to Whoa sub forum on this site Sundance renovated his brick veneer by adding styrene and rendering.  His long thread shows how he dealt with the increased width around windows ( he also built an extension using ICF covered in the same thread, so you will need to sift). 
Are you sure this is going to be cheaper than a new build with a volume builder?

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## r3nov8or

> Are you sure this is going to be cheaper than a new build with a volume builder?

  Been thinking the same.

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## SilentButDeadly

Silk purse from sows ear? Nope. If you can't afford to make ugly into slightly less ugly then ditch it...and move on. I know doesn't sound or read helpful but sometimes people need to be told went to just stop...

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## Davem111

Thanks for the info, I will search the thread.  
Yes we are coming mighty close to project home territory but still a substantial gap once you take into consideration site prep, demo and the nice fittings we have chosen. Also we get to have our desired layout which is a plus.

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## pharmaboy2

Hi, don't do render look, by the sounds of the  budget it will look cheap.  Replace with a fibre cement cladding and paint (lasts long time when done right and maintained)

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## ringtail

Demo and rebuild new for sure.

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