Take a walk through the typical Brisbane suburb and you’re likely to find homes finished in a few different exterior styles. Bricks, weatherboards and cladding panels remain popular all over the region, but there’s another common option: rendered walls. Rendered homes have been around for a long time now, offering a durable and stylish alternative to other exterior finishes. And, conveniently, render can be applied to a home long after it was built, meaning it’s a good way to update or change the look of your home. If you’re thinking about renovating or building a new house, it’s worth considering a rendered finish.
What is House Rendering?
Rendering is a process where the walls of your home are coated with a thin layer of specialised cements. Renders are often used to update the look of older brick homes, but many newly-built homes also use rendered finishes to achieve the owners’ desired look. Not only does render look fantastic, it protects the outside of your home from weather, and it can be painted to suit your design aesthetic. There are three common types of house rendering:
- Cement. Cement render is exactly what it sounds like. The mix is made from cement, sand, water and lime or clay. It covers rough surfaces like bricks well, but its low flexibility means it can be prone to cracking over time.
- Acrylic. Acrylic render is similar to cement render, but it has acrylic plastic added to the mix. The acrylic additives make the render more flexible and durable.
- Polymer. Polymer render is another type of cement render with polymer additives. The polymer makes the render more adhesive, so it sticks better to all sorts of surfaces, and it has a high degree of weather and UV resistance.
Update the Look of you Property with Render
While it’s true that render protects your brickwork from the elements, most people invest in rendering because of how good it looks. Many of the homes around Brisbane are built in the traditional style with timber framing and a brick veneer. If you’d like to switch that traditional styling for something more modern, render is one of the most accessible ways of bringing a home into the 21st century. Render is available in a variety of different colours and textures. It can be used to create everything from rough stone-look walls to a mirror-polished finish that stands out. Cement renders are typically mixed to be black, white or grey, but pigments can be added to change the colour and help achieve the look you’re after.
Indoor and Outdoor Rendering
Rendering isn’t just limited to the outside of your home. If you’re after something a little more unusual, render can also be applied to internal walls. Rendering internal walls opens up a huge variety of options for colours and textures inside your home. If you choose a waterproof type of render then it can also be used to dress up wet areas like bathrooms and kitchens. Plus, interior render can easily be painted over if you ever want to change the colour or feel of a room!
Painting a Rendered Wall
The best thing about rendering a home is that it’s the perfect blank canvas. Although render can be coloured with pigments, it also accepts high quality exterior paints. So, whether you want to update the look of the house or just want to put your own stamp on it, exterior rendering can be painted to suit.
Painting render is usually a straightforward process, but we’ve got a few tips to help you with the work:
- New render should be allowed to fully cure for 4-6 weeks before you paint it.
- Proper preparation is the key - render should be washed with a hose and a stiff brush or broom, and then left to dry for a few days before painting.
- Use the right painting equipment. Depending on how coarse the render is, you may need to spray the paint on, rather than using a roller or brush.
- You may need a sealer or undercoat, depending on the top coat you’re using. Modern exterior paints don’t always need an undercoat. Check the manufacturer’s instructions before you start working.
- Choose high quality exterior paints if you’re going to be painting render outside the home. Quality paints stand up much better to Brisbane’s sun and rain, protecting your render for decades.