Hi all, this is my first post on the forum.
I have to admit from the beginning that I am not a plasterer, but am in need of some good render! Hopefully by being a potential costumer I will be immune form any abuse or ridicule on the site! ;-)
A large chunk of the current sand and cement render has fallen from the breeze block walls of our house, and the remainder render sounds hollow on tapping (blown!), so we looking to get the whole lot taken of and re-rendered. Until viewing this forum we'd been hoping to avoid sand and cement in favour of a more modern system to avoid further cracking. It seems that from reading the forum that if sand and cement is correctly applied then such problems shouldn't arise.
Our current difficulty is the price difference between the various quotes that we have received -ranging from £6000 to £13000, and that each company is offering a different system. The cheaper quotes are from larger companies with pushy sales people, whereas the more expensive quotes are from more local trademen.
So far we have been offered sand and cement, GRC, wetherby and monocouche. I think all companies are offering a K1.5 silicone finishing colour coat, which seems to come with a crack resistant gaurantee, but again from reading the forum it seems that it may not be fully crack resistant!
Any advice on how to decide on the most appropriate system would be much appreciated, which is the least likely to crack or is that more dependent on how it is applied? What issues should we be wary of with the lower quotations - will it be a case of 'pay peanuts and get monkeys'? Ultimately I felt that I didn't trust any of the larger companies, but am trying to convince myself that they are cheap because they specialise in render rather than just being crap!!
Finally, is there anyone near Ely (Cambs) who wants to come and do the job??
Thanks in advance for any help,
Alastair (Ali).
Ps is this post too long???
I have to admit from the beginning that I am not a plasterer, but am in need of some good render! Hopefully by being a potential costumer I will be immune form any abuse or ridicule on the site! ;-)
A large chunk of the current sand and cement render has fallen from the breeze block walls of our house, and the remainder render sounds hollow on tapping (blown!), so we looking to get the whole lot taken of and re-rendered. Until viewing this forum we'd been hoping to avoid sand and cement in favour of a more modern system to avoid further cracking. It seems that from reading the forum that if sand and cement is correctly applied then such problems shouldn't arise.
Our current difficulty is the price difference between the various quotes that we have received -ranging from £6000 to £13000, and that each company is offering a different system. The cheaper quotes are from larger companies with pushy sales people, whereas the more expensive quotes are from more local trademen.
So far we have been offered sand and cement, GRC, wetherby and monocouche. I think all companies are offering a K1.5 silicone finishing colour coat, which seems to come with a crack resistant gaurantee, but again from reading the forum it seems that it may not be fully crack resistant!
Any advice on how to decide on the most appropriate system would be much appreciated, which is the least likely to crack or is that more dependent on how it is applied? What issues should we be wary of with the lower quotations - will it be a case of 'pay peanuts and get monkeys'? Ultimately I felt that I didn't trust any of the larger companies, but am trying to convince myself that they are cheap because they specialise in render rather than just being crap!!
Finally, is there anyone near Ely (Cambs) who wants to come and do the job??
Thanks in advance for any help,
Alastair (Ali).
Ps is this post too long???