The question of exactly how best to re-render the house still remains open, but further research and information is upon us.

Technology at the time in 1911 was to build houses with solid (non-cavity) walls and Oakleigh is certainly no exception. This prevents a problem for rendered buildings with natural moisture becoming trapped in the walls and being unable to escape thus causing and or render problems allegedly.

I’ve discovered a good internet forum which I shall be looking to for matters of advise and discussion over at: http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/index.php

Turn of the century solid wall properties evidently present somewhat of a quandary since some were supposedly designed to take a cement based render whereas other and all earlier buildings would require a breathable ‘lime’ based render.

In true ‘Homes under the Hammer Style’ – lets call in the experts…

Google had yielded the existance to me of ‘Insulated Render’.

This seems on paper like a reasonable solution for a number of reasons. The various layers are designed to prevent any water ingress hence removing the problem of internal damp. It’s also a neat way to dramatically increase the u value of our walls and to hence potentially lower our heating bills.

So – the first folk we got round were insulated render specialists. “Insulated render is exactly what you need Sir, nothing else will work… It will cure all your problems” went the sales pitch. Sadly with the ensuing quote, the company was also trying to clear third world debt or double it depending on which side of the fence you’re looking. Suffice to say, we won’t be going the insulated render route. A consideration of an insulated solution is that the insulation adds 150mm thickness to the walls. For us, this which would also mean having to faff around with the windows, cills, corbels, bits of the roof – so even cost aside, I don think this would fly.

Next up, was the regular high street render company. “Oh no Sir, a regular cement based render is all you need. We use a waterproof and breathable additive which means you wont have any problems with damp…” went the sales pitch. The resultant quote was much more in line with our expectations.

But the good folk over at www.periodproperty.co.uk had been extolling the virtues of Lime, so the final expert in the line up so far was a lime render specialist.

“..Oh no sir, a cement render would never work. You will always have the same problem. You must have a lime finish..” went the sales pitch. I’m beginning to spot a theme here. That said, I was thoroughly impressed with the lime guy. He made several suggestions including removing the render from below our slate DPC to leave exposed brick to prevent any damp bridging across it. I was also interested to learn that like a cement based render, lime can also be roughcast or smooth. His quote came in around 20% more than the cement guys, so I think is probably our favourite candidate at the moment.

More I’m sure will follow in the coming months..