Render and Expansion Gaps

Hello,

Has anyone rendered a house with expansion gaps? I'd love to see a picture to understand how you have managed it.

A friend advises I have to render the wall up to the expansion gap and then render the other side but leave the gap open. There is rubber stuff you can plug the gap with but there is no way to hide it. (rubber is black so it will stand out if I render)

Thanks

Here's a photo

We have a fully rendered house. The expansion gaps are filled with a rubber type product similar to your pic but also seems to have something like gapfiller (you know the selly's type product) over the top then is painted the same as the rest of the rendered walls. Don't notice them at all.

You could just paint the black foam stuff the same as the rest of the render thought I imagine you would need to repaint it more often (as we may need to do to.)

Even on a normal brick veneer home, the expansion gaps are normally covered by a sealer thats a similar colour to the grout, so sealing and painting should be fine for render. They're not weep holes after all.

Just look around at homes with render. If they have a brick infill above their garage door then expect to see expansion joints on either side above the edges of the garage door.

The black rubber thing is called a 'backing rod'. Its only there to stop the sealant which you squirt over the top going into the cavity and disappearing. Obviously on your job they didn't bother with the sealant. You do the same thing with the render. Leave a joint, stick a strip of foam in it and use a flexible mastic over the top.
cheers

Thanks folks,
All good advice!

Sorry to hijack your thread seashell, however have a question regarding the sealer for the expansion gaps.

My build should be completed in three weeks time and all but one of the expansion gaps are straight.. now i know i may be quite picky, however out of all areas the crooked one is at the front of the house (corner of garage and entrance)..

Question is can it be fixed? ie remove that sealer and redo?

Thanks Homeone!

Markus1984,
it can be fixed but being picky like you are but are entitled to be so, the entire wall would need the render removed and re done and painted, otherwise no matter how good the render it will always look patchy. They could i guess cut it straight and fill it again, but it would be a touch wider to compensate for the curves already there. Maybe you should stop offering beers to your tradies? haha

Thanks for the reply Tom.. i guess it's probably best to leave it, as i am the only one who sees it as a problem..