Rendering Company With 30+ Years Experience
Roughcasting Glasgow is part of AMC Solutions (Alba) Ltd who have over 30 years roughcasting, external rendering and plastering experience.
Our team regularly apply Dry Dash, West Dash, Smooth Render, Scratch Back Render, Silicone Render and Acrylic, EWI, and K Rend. Anything not listed here, please ask for information, as we likely have experience applying it or good reason not to and can suggest what is best as your property, each household or commercial premises truly is unique in this regard.
To arrange a free, no obligation home survey please complete the contact form above or call 0141 473 4880.
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External Rendering Glasgow
One of the best ways that would add value to your home or property is through changing or improving your exterior. External rendering is the perfect way to do that. Your potential buyer will be looking at the appearance of the walls, and therefore if it has to fetch good money, you have to ensure it has much kerb appeal. Therefore, if your exterior walls are looking bad or there is a mismatch of materials, you have to prioritise rendering.
Rendering doesn’t require very expensive materials, nope; you can use sand and cement or even some breathable polymer. This will hide any mismatch on the materials of the wall and thus creating a sleek finish for your home. To add architectural interest, you can choose masonry or timber cladding- this will also create and external insulation which warms up a rather draughty home.
How much will it cost you to render a house?
The cost to render a house depends on the type of external rendering you are using, the cost is also based around the square meterage, the current condition of your walls and the type of rendering materials you want us to apply. For instance, if you were to render a typical three bedroom house of about 80M², you should have a budget of anything between £3000 and £5000. There are a variety of wall insulation systems and specialists do it on supply and fix basis; there is usually no option for doing it yourself.
Different types of render finish
The purpose of applying a render finish is to create a smooth, textured and a patterned finish and one that comes in a wide range of colors. For instance, for an old historic building, a lime render with a patterned finish would work perfectly to give you a sleek finish. Again, if you are looking for a breathable, flexible and a finish that will cost you less to maintain on your contemporary home, then a silicone based render would be a perfect match.
Lime renders; this works best with old homes that need a retouch. It is breathable and flexible and it helps alleviate dampness on your exterior walls.
Smooth Render
Smooth render is quite a vague term as quite a few different kinds of external renders can be described as smooth rendering such as silicone, K Rend or acrylic render. Aesthetically speaking smooth render is as good as it gets, you can also apply breathable paint, so it comes it a wide range of colours.
The process for applying smooth render usually involves the render being floated or sponged to create the smooth finish.
Like all of our external renders, smooth render comes in a range of different colours.
Silicone Render
Silicone render is different from most of the other finishes on this page, it is actually just a finishing coat. It’s the final thin coat of render applied to external wall insulation and rendering, it is noticeably different and on high demand these days.
Silicone render does cost a little more, but you get what you pay for the quality stands out!
K Rend listed below, is a type of silicone render and the most popular one in the UK.
Acrylic Render
Acrylic render uses acrylic in the mixture, acrylic is known for being strong, durable and yet flexible, making it extremely adaptable for the exterior of your home. You can apply acrylic render to almost any surface, like brickwork that’s not even for example, making it a great problem solver for certain homes with exteriors in poor condition. You are by no means cutting corners using it, however, the installer has to have the experience to do it correctly.
If you are thinking of choosing acrylic render, we have dozens of pictures and customer reviews from customers we have installed acrylic rendering for over the years to put your mind at ease.
K Rend Scotland
As mentioned above, K Rend is the most popular silicone render brand in the UK, and for good reason! We should say the UK and Ireland as a matter of fact, as they are Irish company with their head office at Minerals Ltd, 9 Starbog Road, Kilwaughter, Larne, BT40 2TJ.
K Rend is most popular alternative to sand and cement traditional renders such as roughcasting, the finish is impressive, it already has the colours in the mixture meaning it looks more natural than other renders that may need to be painted.
It’s popular for a reason, we highly recommend and have vast experience applying it to exterior of homes across Scotland.
Scratch Render
Scratch render is a cement and sand based material that incorporates a silicone finish. Scratch render looks great and is extremely water resistant whilst still being breathable, ensuring a great long term external render solution for your home. When scratch render is still wet, it is manipulated by a tool called a comb scratcher or a “scarifier” hence the name scratch rendering.
Like all of our external renders, scratch render comes in a range of different colours.
Sand and Cement
This is the most common and standard choice for the exterior walls. You can mix this on site with some other cheap materials. The labor is usually on the higher side when using cement because you have to do two or three coats. The beauty here is that you’ll not to repaint the wall to look fresh.
Dry Dash aka Roughcast or Pebble Dash
Dry dash or dry dashing is a more traditional external wall rendering method that provides a durable exterior surface for your home. Dry dash not only looks a lot like roughcast or pebble dashing, it’s the exact same thing! It literally comes to down to dialect and what side of the border you’re on, very few people will use the term dry dash in Scotland. Dry dash render is made of the same basic materials such as cement and sand, then the pebbles / stones are added to the wall after it has been applied.
It’s built to last and especially when combined with external wall insulation (ewi) it provides insulation benefits to your property. Much like all render, application is everything, the material is only as good as it’s been applied. A fundamental aspect of a successful application prepping the wall before it is applied. You can’t just slap it on to any old surface, the foundations of the building or wall must be solid and even then it can be applied.
Like all of our external renders, dry dash comes in a range of different colours.
Wet Dash
West dash render or wet dashing is not the same as roughcast or pebble dash! The main difference is, although the materials are the same sand, cement the small gravel chips or ‘pebbles’ are mixed in together and then applied to your wall. This may sound subtle, but it does make for a noticeable difference in texture and visibly different finish when it all settles.
Like all of our external renders, wet dash comes in a range of different colours.
A polymer render
This is a render finish that has polymers and other plastics added to the mix to prevent cracking. One advantage with this finish is that you can get the materials in the desired colors and therefore your wall will not need painting.
Monocouche render
The word monocouche is French and it means single coat. In this type of finish, only a single coat is required. This is render based on cement and is mixed with water, then sprayed or trowelled. It is a bit expensive when you are buying but you’ll recoup the cost of the material in the labor, since you can do the spraying yourself. The materials don’t crack, they are self-cleaning and self-coloured. Having this kind of finish appears costly at first but when you consider other parameters, you’ll realise that it’s the most economical.
The wall rendering process
Wall preparation
The first thing you do before rendering is to survey the surface, then you have to seal any cracks on the wall. Do some minimal repairs where need be and stabilize any movement. This is done so that the Smooth- k render finish does not fail -the finish is only as perfect as the wall behind.
External Wall Insulation (ewi)
You could have the external wall insulation done before the render coat. This is usually in the form of slabs and rigid boards. The type of wall will determine the kind of fixing – you can either glue to the wall or mechanically fix it.
Creating a foundation for render fixing
Over the insulation, you apply a render mesh; this is bedded to the first layer of the render. The mesh is applied as a reinforcement to prevent any cracking, then you have two thin coats of render following; a topcoat and a primer.
Is there planning permission you need to do rendering?
As long as the house you are doing rendering is not on a conservation area, then you have no reason to worry about getting approval for rendering. Again, you need to ensure that the permitted development rights have not been violated or removed. If you are doing rendering on a substantial part of your home or property, then you need to comply with the building regulations.
The DOs and Don’ts in rendering
If you want to transform your home’s exterior, then you must consider the type that perfectly blends with the age of your home and proportion. If for instance the brick wall is cracked, you should consider insulating before you render. That will ensure you have a strong finish that will glitter for years.
You also need to consider the surrounding properties when doing your planning. You don’t have to do colors or a finish that will clash with the neighbors’ houses. Take a picture of the neighboring houses and let your architect help you determine the design that will cut. The construction agent or the professional should also tell you if your plans will improve your home’s value or not.
While rendering your home, it’s an opportunity for you to improve energy efficiency of your home through insulation. You could save up to 20% of your monthly energy bills.
You may also need to do some make over in your gardening once you’ve finished rendering. Thus, it’s prudent that you allocate some budget for that.
Rendering is one of the ingenious ways through which you can improve the value of your home. You don’t have wait until your external walls are cracked or completely out of shape so that you repair. Once you notice that the finish has begun to fade, it is high time you get a professional to do an assessment for you and recommend the type of rendering you need. Again, why sell your property at a low price when you can transform it through rendering to fetch more money? Go ahead, draw a plan consult a house rendering Glasgow professional and get your home exterior revamped.
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