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Wall Cladding
Exterior wall coverings have been around for many years in one form or another and getting exterior walls covered or rendered seems to be increasing in popularity again. All that wall cladding is, is any type of exterior wall covering that has been placed there to protect or refurbish your home or to give it a different, new look. Ordinary wall cladding refers to many different types of exterior wall claddings and should not be confused with the ubiquitous stone cladded terraces of the nineteen eighties. Cladding may be a basic lime render, a concrete render, which is a nix of lime, sand and concrete, or one of the newer acrylic or polymer wall coverings on the market today.
New Products
While there are new products coming onto the market virtually every day, some of them complete and sophisticated systems that help to reduce damp, mute external noises and increase the insulating properties and thus the ecology of a building. One thing that you need to be very careful of when you are choosing wall cladding for your exterior walls, and that is whether the cladding you have chosen is suitable to the substrata of your building. If you have the wrong type of cladding or render for your home then it could actually damage your exterior walls by causing a build-up of moisture and damp and thereby reducing your home/s insulating efficiency.
Traditional Wall Cladding
For many years people have refurbished and repaired period properties with a simple lime render and lime wash. The main reason that a lime wall cladding is best for older properties is because the cladding is flexible enough to shift with the natural movement of the building, making it less likely the cladding will crack and the building will suffer from damp walls. Lime is a porous material which is why the substrata underneath lime wall cladding can carry on breathing and getting rid of excess moisture naturally. It is a mistake to use some traditional masonry paints on top of a lime render because the paint can hinder the breathing properties of your home’s substrata. A good lime wash, which is also porous, can add some colour and still keep your home breathing.
Lime Wall Cladding
Many people use lime wall cladding to refurbish older properties and when it is prepared in the traditional manner with aged lime putty, lime cladding is also ecologically friendly as it can help to insulate your building, reduce energy costs and thereby harmful Co2 emissions. Traditional wall cladding like lime renders and pebble dashing not only enhances the look of a property and increases it s insulating properties, it also gives added protection against coastal erosion and continual bad weather. Some wall cladding comes with professional certification and must be applied by professionals, traditional lime and cement renders and wall cladding on the other hand, can just as easily be applied by hand as a do it yourself project. No matter what sort of wall cladding you think you want it is always best to try and find the cladding that is most suitable for your home.
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