# Forum Home Renovation Cladding  Re cladding our house opinions?

## BLKWDW

Hey all we recently had 2 companies come out to the house, looking at recladding the outside of the house. First company was formplex using a plastic based cladding with insulation. Cost to do the house and shed was $18500. We had another company come out called panelspan also to give us a seperate quote and they use a steel cladding with insulation and for the house, shed and gabbles was $18600.   They both had done a few houses in the area so we went for a look to see what they looked liked. Well i can say i wasnt that impressed really. None of them looked any better then our current fibro type cladding we have currently on the house. In saying the that a section of the back of the house is just hardiplank which we used for the outside walls on the addition so 2 different looks and the shed is in need of new walls regardless really.  So my question really is it worth spending the money on getting the everything done when apart from a few parts it wont look any better? Would we be better of just fixing the shed up or possibly replacing it with new steel one as it was an extra 4k to include the shed.  Are there other options for r doing the external walls that are a similar price or possibly less like getting the house rendered which i really love.   Whats your opinions.

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## Cecile

We had an estimate done by Formplex and were less than excited by the intense, high-pressure selling tactics of the guy, as well as his lack of actual knowledge of the technical specs, which we had asked him to bring when we requested the quotation.  It would look OK on our old weatherboard house and fit in with the streetscape, but we cancelled for several reasons:  they refused to give us actual addresses in the local area to go look at, the product was totally misrepresented to us with regard to insulation value, the estimate (about $18,000 for a house 16x8.2m)  included NOTHING (house had to be insulated, building wrap in place, they refused to supply only, stuff like that) other than nail the stuff on the walls, and the company was less than cooperative when we asked them for technical specs.  In my opinion, I would steer clear of them. 
If the current cladding is sound, a good start might be to rent a pressure-washer and see how it looks all cleaned up.  A coat of high quality paint all round might be all it requires.  If you're going to pull the existing cladding off, it gives you an  opportunity to insulate the walls as well as fix up the outside.  Any  board-type cladding is going to need paint or other regular  maintenance regardless of what you choose.  
We have decided that our mostly rotten, split 60 year old weatherboards are going to go, and although we had a look at rendering over expanded polystyrene, we will probably have a mixture of colourbond (on the front) and zincalume everywhere else.  No maintenance required except for a hose off from time to time. 
Let us know how you go.

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## shauck

Have you got pictures of the house to post? Would be good to see them.  
Have you considered weatherboards? Pretty easy option. They do have to be painted and maintained of course but that's pretty easy too. Cost wise, depends on size. I have a soft spot for weatherboards or similar cladding, hardwood would be awesome in my book but all of it depends on style of house (pics) and material costs increase a lot. If you are prepared to learn how, it's not too difficult to do weatherboards and would be cheap. Probably pretty well priced option even if you got someone else to do it, maybe paint your self to save a few bucks.  
Is the cement sheet old and hence asbestos removal costs?  Going over asbestos would not be my choice, personally. Can be done but there'll always be the issue of taking care not to create dust from drilling, sanding, etc. If you sell, the new owner needs to know it's there and that may stall a sale. If it's not asbestos, cool, no probs.

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## BLKWDW

Only pic i have of it painted

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## jatt

I know many people have this negative view of PVC cladding, But personally I would have one again in a heartbeat. 
Bought my first joint from Gran, so I knew the cladding was already 10 years old. They put it on themselves.  That puts the install date at 1986. 
My maintenance regime in the 14 years I owned it was simply pressure wash, quick hit with a stiff broom, and wash again.  They get a reasonable amount of Lichen on roofs and walls down that way.  Comes off without too much effort.  
Driven past it again a couple of times since and it still looks fine. 
Take from that whatever you need, but I know I have better things to do than paint weather boards, even with the airless.

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## BLKWDW

Thanks for the replies fellas. I dont think i'm real keen now on going a cladding based product as they all look pretty similar to what we currently have. If i was to change the exterior it would be for a different look i think. Most of the houses in the street are either a nice new modern looking brick house or an old fibro sheet house so a mix of new and crap looking. We fall in the middle. Colourbond sheeting would be nice i think would need to see a few houses done like it first to see.  
Other option is to paint what we have. instead of trying to blend in the new renovated section at the rear of the house maybe make it a feature of the backyard(especially once the entertaining area gets done) and rear of the house. Its is a cladding done with hardie plank so similiar look but just different material to what son the house. The extra 5k it was going to cost to have the shed done(included in the 18.5k price) would prob be better of spent of removing the old shed and putting up a new colourbond shed.

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## shauck

I've seen your house in another post. You're going to do something with the verandah, is that right? It's certainly a style of house that can be modernised if you like or weatherboarded. I have zero personal experience of plastic cladding products so can't comment other than dislike the "idea" of plastic.  
A nice hardwood with a narrower profile, maybe shiplap cladding. Spend money on materials and DIY. You could do it one wall at a time if you can't find several weeks to do it all at once.  
Maybe mix it up a bit with some cement sheet cladding to break things up a bit. There are some pretty interesting products out there, such as James Hardie products.  
It can be done badly tho and is more difficult and less forgiving of the learner (personal experience). Also may be more frame prep involved depending on what you choose.  
If you are interested in one of these types of cladding systems, I'd suggest downloading and reading, several times, the installation PDFs that are available on manufacturers website, such as Hardie products. They are pretty thorough.  
If you have the perfectionist eye, you might not want to DIY.  
Hop over to the rendering section of the forum too to get some input there.  
Cheers, Su.

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## BLKWDW

Yeh mate your correct i did post up about my verandah as want it replaced as well.  
Funny thing is we wernt even looking at touching the house until the formplex company dropped one of there little cut of advertisements in the letterbox.  
Will have a look at some other cladding products from hardie and the like just in case there is something that catches our eye. Will also speak to a carpenter/builder for opinions.

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## shauck

Yeah, thought that you were going to do something with the verandah. I quite like the retro look of your place. I think it's pretty cool. Can't remember what you intend to do regarding style changes but that could affect the choices of cladding as well.

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## BLKWDW

Was considering a wooden post verandah as i like the wood look. I like the new but old look with a modern interior. Dont want it to look neccesarily like a new built house just a house ppl say" say thats a nice old house" if you get what i mean.

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## Cecile

> Thanks for the replies fellas

  For the record, both shauck and myself aren't "fellas."   :Sneaktongue:    :Oops:   
BTW, from what I can see of your place, the weatherboards look fine.  As I said earlier, unifying it with some paint might be all it needs.  I'd consider replacing the verandah posts with something like big chunky timber posts, painted to match the house perhaps, especially if there is any rust in them.   
Can you post a few more photos of the rest of the house?

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## phild01

I'm currently using a bit of hardies scyon stria to fit in with a rendered look.  I view painting differently now as with good prep work, the latest exterior paints have good life.  The Stria is a neat look, not the same as hardiplank and quite thick.

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## BLKWDW

> For the record, both shauck and myself aren't "fellas."      
> BTW, from what I can see of your place, the weatherboards look fine.  As I said earlier, unifying it with some paint might be all it needs.  I'd consider replacing the verandah posts with something like big chunky timber posts, painted to match the house perhaps, especially if there is any rust in them.   
> Can you post a few more photos of the rest of the house?

  Sorry just habit. Yes i'll get some more pics today.

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## jatt

> I'd consider replacing the verandah posts with something like big chunky timber posts, painted to match the house perhaps, especially if there is any rust in them.

    Or even something in SHS steel (buggers wont twist or bow) 
Yeah definitely an idea there and certainally not as extreme as recladding.  U might be surprised on the difference it makes.   hardies scyon stria- the website foto didnt look too bad.  Second storey of mates townhouse uses a vertical striped cement sheet.  Sheet joins just blend into the next.

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## Bloss

Looks like asbestos weatherboards on the front not timber? Asbestos on verandah ceiling lining too and fair chance so is the hardiplank extension. All in good nick so I'd be planning too leave it alone for a while then work out what you are going to do to one day in the future to replace the asbestos not just clad it. And when you do you can add some good wall insulation - fill and batt as Cowra has a big climate range with cool to cold winters and hot to very hot summers. I'd be spending some money on making tech place more comfortable to live in - add insulation in the roof (or more if there is some there already). 
BYW - Read the advice in the Asbestos sub-forum - and do what it says . . .

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