# Forum Home Renovation Rendering  Rendering

## lnt9000

Will attempt to render a brick veneer house soon, anyone know what product I should go for, any advise as to the cement mix as some articles I have read reveal conflicting advise, eg: the type of sand. 
------------------
Hen

----------


## coastie

I have been watching a block of units go up 2 doors from me.There are about 4 Jugoslavs working on it,did the whole side of one block in one day,and its two storeys,boy are they pretty to watch!!,just seem to throw the mud on then come back with a piece of 4x1 and float it.Using only sand, cement and baggged lime.I have heard that a product called Plastermasta is used as an additive to the mix to make it flow better.

----------


## Darryn

> Originally posted by lnt9000: *Will attempt to render a brick veneer house soon, anyone know what product I should go for, any advise as to the cement mix as some articles I have read reveal conflicting advise, eg: the type of sand. *

  Do you want to render it or just bag it?
If the answer is render I would not want to try it myself on a whole house as you really need to know what you are doing to get a decent looking job. 
I redid the render in my kitchen after my other half got a bit too excited removing tiles from the wall.  Its a Pr!ck of a job making sure it is an even thickness and keeping coners square etc and straight. 
Bagging with a sponge is not too hard tho as we have built a retaining wall and some garden beds at home from common bricks and then bagged them to get a nice finish. 
As far as sand and mixes go I'm in WA and just used yellow plasterers sand and the mix ratios on a bag of cream cement which was jst sand cement and hylime.  Getting the consistency of the mix right takes a bit of practice, but you get the hang of putting it on with a stiff sponge pretty easy. 
If you are going to colour the render with oxide then you have to be pretty careful measuring your mixes and oxide amounts.  The stuff we did was supposed to be a terracotta colour but different garden beds were done at different times and the colours vary a bit!!! 
HTH
I would also start at the back of the house or side where it is least seen then you will have a bit to practice on!!!!  
Darryn

----------


## JackG

As mentioned rendering is extremely difficult and keeping it consistent over the whole house is impossible for a beginner because your technique will improve etc..
Same as brick laying when you see a pro, it looks soooo easy but to get that level of proficiency it takes them years.
There is a product from watty/granosite that is easi(er) to use, it is called "Grano ready render" it is pre mixed so you have a consistent product and works quite well for thicknesses up to 6mm or so but it aint as cheap as sand cement lime and plastamasta. 
If I was you I'd pay the pros to do it and just watch in awe   
Jack

----------


## lnt9000

Thank's for the moral support guy's, I think you have drained all the enthusiasm I had on this subject
I have heard of granosite but have been led to believe that a product called Multitex is the bee's Knee's in the Industry, guaranteed for 10 years +, they are at: www.multitex.com.au 
They suggest various ways of application, even using a roller! now who can't use a roller?
The house in question is not worth spending big dollars to get tradies to do the job, and I love a challenge so I will persevere.
It is "rendering" and not "bagging" that I refer to which makes it just a little more difficult.
Anyway thank's for the advise guy's.

----------


## Clarkie

...the tip about the Multitex. 
I recently walked around a building site where some new houses had just been rendered. I was amazed to see that the render was only a few mm thick. The finish was so perfect that you could have shot a bullet across the surface. There was no one around for me to ask how it had been done. I'd dare say that something like the Multitex product "multitrowel", which can be put on 1mm to 3mm thick, had been used. 
This looks like it could be a solution to rendering my house, which I'd rather do myself instead of paying someone else to. 
By the way, how did you get on? 
Thanks again, 
Clarkie

----------


## lnt9000

Have not started yet clarkie, It's a project that's a fair distance from where I live, so I only go up on weekends, I work saturday morning so it's a short weekend, So far I have re-plastered some rooms,built a kitchen,removed sticky wallpaper(which took forever) and then painted, Upstairs : new ensuite,Laminated flooring,paint,stairwell: polished timber ballistrades, etc etc etc.
However I'm narrowing it down now as I only have the bathroom & laundry to go, Then I start on the outside! 
The house in question is by the sea, I have to look into the effect this might have on render. 
It will be done, and when it is I'll post the results here on how succesfull or not I will be. 
Cheers.

----------


## lnt9000

Okay just an update, I have cement rendered the house to a thickness of about 6mm, you can still see the outline of the brick, using a steel trowel to place it on the wall and then a plastic float in a circular motion, the mix was 4 parts washed sand (and then I sifted it through fly wire) 1 part cement, 1 part lime, 2 coats were applied and the finish is quite suitable for painting over, but no that's too easy, when It cures properly "8 Weeks" I will be applying a product from http://www.rockcote.com.au/ called Toscani or I will be going thicker with a product from http://www.shieldcoat.com.au/ called "Afresco Graincoat" But whatever I use I'll post back some pix when done, so far I really dont know what all the fuss is about, Ie: people trying to talk you out of doing it, even the product sellers themselves try to sway you towards a tradie, I've gotta admit it is hard work though.
Cheers!

----------


## Bodgy

Hen 
Well done. sport! Don't you love it when somebody goes ahead and does something that's meant to be impossible. 
Having done inside rendering myself, I would have also said to get a tradie. 
It's even better than the guy who goes and does the impossible cause he wasn't told it was impossible. You got told and went ahead anyway. 
Great, inspirational story. Hang on, better wait until we see the piccies, it could look like a dogs back leg

----------


## namtrak

Great to hear, and its good to see followups as well. 
Photos would be cool

----------


## silentC

Jeez, you don't do anything in a hurry do you?  :Wink:

----------


## lnt9000

> Jeez, you don't do anything in a hurry do you?

  You're not wrong, that's why my family call me "turtle", the entire project will reach it's fourth anniversary this Xmas!!!

----------


## WOOD DUCK

In relation to the Multitex, has anyone used it or does anybody here know who stocks the product, I have emailed Multitex about the product but as yet have no reply.

----------


## lnt9000

Well it's finally complete!, here is two pix, one with the cement render applied and two with "NuTech Roll on membrane" applied.
Total cost approx less than $1000.00, not Including my labour.
Actually there is a chap at nutech that runs a workshop for anyone interested in learning the skills required to apply their products, Although they are located in seaford vic, I never attended but was told by the owner of the store that I bought the product.

----------


## Hybrid

Wow! It looks really good. Do you have any close up pictures of the finish on the walls? 
I've toyed with the idea of rendering my place as I have grown to despise the brick colour over the years. The price seems really attractive, just not sure how the finished product would look close up.

----------


## Shedhand

> Wow! It looks really good. Do you have any close up pictures of the finish on the walls? 
> I've toyed with the idea of as I have grown to despise the brick colour over the years. The price seems really attractive, just not sure how the finished product would look close up.

  My son-in-law had his new 40sq home rendered about 12 months ago and it is covered in cracks.
I like render but I'm yet to see an example that doesn't crack.  The first house he rendered was a new home and the render was applied on that blue coloured cement type board and it cracked terribly (the render I mean). That was about 7 years ago.  The new house has been rendered over that 50mmm thick polystyrene stuff.
Anybody know of a render that won't crack and if so what is the best substrate for it? I have an architect drawing up plans for an extension and don't know what to finish it with.:confused:

----------


## Harry72

The best substrate is brick/concrete and brick/concrete only, render will not tolerate any flex!
Come to my place I'll show you lots of 50yr old render/plastering with no cracks...

----------


## lnt9000

> Wow! It looks really good. Do you have any close up pictures of the finish on the walls? 
> I've toyed with the idea of rendering my place as I have grown to despise the brick colour over the years. The price seems really attractive, just not sure how the finished product would look close up.

  Not right up close, but those I posted are 5meg however I had to reduce the resolution so this forum would accept, shame about that otherwise you could see much better, the finish is on the par of what I've seen elsewhere, not the worst but not the best either, from the footpath the finish looks flawless, get up close and you will see minor imperfections but quite satisfactory.
When rendering brick (not blueboard etc)there are a number of ways to achieve this depending on what your missus likes and not you, some like it rough and some not so rough (I'm talking rendering here) when you look at a brick house with raked cement, it is pleasing to the eye and you dont start eying the lines and checking for trueness etc etc because there is no need, It looks perfectly fine, Then put a thin layer of render just enough to fill in the raked joins and flatten slightly, and then have a look when the sun shines on that wall, It reveals all the booboo's the bricky made when laying those bricks, no bricky is perfect although some would argue otherwise, now to cover up all those imperfections and be left with a perfect wall one would have to lay a render to a thickness of 12mm plus, which I would not recommend any newby to contemplate, It requires the skills of a solid plasterer, with such a thickness It is quite heavy and needs a solid clean adhesion area otherwise (I have seen this) chunks may break off  and mar an otherwise perfect creation, my job sees me attending many houses under construction and from what I have seen they basically take the same approach as I took, if you have a rendered houses in your street take a side-on look at the walls when the sun is shining and you will see Imperfections.
It is a little difficult to explain but I'll try, slap some render on some bricks, now using a steel trowel remove most of the render till your trowel is scraping bricks, when you look now you will see some brick surface and some parts covered by render thats because the bricks aint straight and the render fills in the low spots and evens out the wall to a degree, follow up using a second coat and remembering that your not trying to build any render your just following the contours of your wall you will find the finish quite acceptable.
I hope this helps. :Shock:

----------


## kenjake1972

Hi , the best product to use for rendering is ROCKCOAT and a close second is SUPERCOAT , these are pre mixed blends that have everything in them just add water , as you're project is a brick home its pretty straight forward , if you're bricks are very straight use liquid nails to attach you're corner beads 3mm ones will be fine , apply one thin coat of render to fill in the mortar joints and then a second coat to fill out the corner beads , apply AL15 or simular product to the bricks before starting , if you're bricks are all over the show like a lot of building and houses i have come across , apply a first coat of render , attach you're beads ( go for 6mm beads) and then apply the second coat , one word of warning if you never done rendering before it is not easy to get a prefect flat wall , and when the sun is on it you may wish you didn't try , hope this helps

----------


## lnt9000

Anyone got the notion that they might want give it a go in the near future should have a look at the link below, go to the clearance bin, Only wish they had these prices when I was doing mine. :Rolleyes:   http://www.dectech.com.au/Files/home.htm

----------

