Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Sep 21, 2013 7:17 pm Hi all, Our new home build is about to start next week, by Carlisle Homes. Probably very late for me to ask this question now, but would be really interested to know. Looks like Carlisle Homes does "light weight rendered foam (100mm)" for whole upstairs. Is that normal? Is it good enough? People who have built double stories with Carlisle Homes or even with other project builders , Whats your observation? Friends built with Porter Davis and they seem to have bricks&mortar upstairs and I am kind of wondering if I overlooked really important consideration while doing price quote comparison. Is it a thing to worry at all? TIA Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 3Sep 22, 2013 7:55 am With modern house all the structural strength is in the house frame not the external walls. The advantage of brick on the lower part of the house is that it is less likely to be damaged by the bumps and bangs of daily life. Once the wall is above head height damage becomes less of an issue and the light weight render should be fine. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 4Sep 22, 2013 9:21 am JB1 I wouldn't worry about it. It's is very good insulation. The downside is you can't mount air cond compressors or anything on the wall (without great difficulty). Hi JB, Thanks a lot for the input, but Can you elaborate about that aircon thingy? Are we going to be restricted as to what kind of aircon we can choose? (we were going to install cooling post hand over) Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 5Sep 22, 2013 9:24 am bashworth With modern house all the structural strength is in the house frame not the external walls. The advantage of brick on the lower part of the house is that it is less likely to be damaged by the bumps and bangs of daily life. Once the wall is above head height damage becomes less of an issue and the light weight render should be fine. Thanks Bashworth, You seem to be an expert in building matters. Do you think all the project builders are doing this? Does this effect the resale value? Because all the people that I have heard said Brick is great and this seems cheeky. (But I can say they are no experts in this, just general public/ my friends in some cases ) Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 6Sep 22, 2013 9:43 am What is the R value of insulation in the upstairs walls? Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 7Sep 22, 2013 9:46 am I see an awful lot of houses, both custom and project builders, now that have light weight render on the upper floor. Supporting single skin brick work above wide openings like garages and big windows is not a good idea and can lead to cracking. There is also the issue where the upper floor is smaller than the ground so the upper storey walls aren't supported by the lower walls. In both cases lighweight construction is probably a better structural solution than brick. As far as protecting your investment some people like render some don't (see: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/06/render-or-brick/ - I think the half brick house doesn't look bland which some all rendered houses do) The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 9Sep 22, 2013 9:49 am StGeorgeBuild What is the R value of insulation in the upstairs walls? R -Ratings depend on the foam thickness, typically: 50mm - R1.2 75mm - R1.8 100mm - R2.4 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 10Sep 22, 2013 9:57 am bashworth I see an awful lot of houses, both custom and project builders, now that have light weight render on the upper floor. Supporting single skin brick work above wide openings like garages and big windows is not a good idea and can lead to cracking. There is also the issue where the upper floor is smaller than the ground so the upper storey walls aren't supported by the lower walls. In both cases lighweight construction is probably a better structural solution than brick. As far as protecting your investment some people like render some don't (see: http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/06/render-or-brick/ - I think the half brick house doesn't look bland which some all rendered houses do) Thanks Bashworth! puts my mind at ease some what. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 11Sep 22, 2013 10:12 am Vetra43 JB1 I wouldn't worry about it. It's is very good insulation. The downside is you can't mount air cond compressors or anything on the wall (without great difficulty). Hi JB, Thanks a lot for the input, but Can you elaborate about that aircon thingy? Are we going to be restricted as to what kind of aircon we can choose? (we were going to install cooling post hand over) Basically you can't install a split system external compressor on the wall. I have 75mm foam + R2.0 batts upstairs, and it's been warm through Melb's winter. I haven't experienced living here in summer yet, but it should be cooler than brick. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 12Sep 22, 2013 10:22 am JB1 Vetra43 JB1 I wouldn't worry about it. It's is very good insulation. The downside is you can't mount air cond compressors or anything on the wall (without great difficulty). Hi JB, Thanks a lot for the input, but Can you elaborate about that aircon thingy? Are we going to be restricted as to what kind of aircon we can choose? (we were going to install cooling post hand over) Basically you can't install a split system external compressor on the wall. I have 75mm foam + R2.0 batts upstairs, and it's been warm through Melb's winter. I haven't experienced living here in summer yet, but it should be cooler than brick. Wow, That sounds great, But what if it can't with stand summer heat and we really needed to install an airconditioner? We are already worried about our decision to do sound proofing in home theatre room, which seems to restrict our options for cooling installation etc. Any other wiring for that matter , So far we have pre wired projector and speakers , but not sure if we may need any other wiring apart from cooling installation. Any thoughts? Also, StGeorgeBuilder, I just googled to see whats the average R value for 100mm rendered polystyrene Foam and from various sources it should be between R 2.7 and R4.0 , them being the least and highest values that I have seen, and many more values in between. Not sure if I should be able to find that information anywhere else in my own builder's paper work? Thanks Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 13Sep 22, 2013 10:24 am Our builder is putting in lightweight walls upstairs (R 1.5) but I was as bit concerned as they are east and west facing and I don't want the upstairs area to be an oven in summer. They are going to do double thickness walls still with the lightweight materials, so the walls will be R 3 combined. It was about another $3500 for this. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 14Sep 22, 2013 10:27 am Vetra43 Also, StGeorgeBuilder, I just googled to see whats the average R value for 100mm rendered polystyrene Foam and from various sources it should be between R 2.7 and R4.0 , them being the least and highest values that I have seen, and many more values in between. Not sure if I should be able to find that information anywhere else in my own builder's paper work? Thanks On our working drawings there was a "Insulation Schedule" section which detailed the insulation for the roof, walls upstairs/downstairs/internal/external and between the floors (floor joists). Also remember while the wall may be 100mm thick, it won't just be all polystyrene, so I doubt it the wall would be up to R 4.0. Best to check with the builder what it actually is. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 15Sep 22, 2013 10:34 am StGeorgeBuild Vetra43 Also, StGeorgeBuilder, I just googled to see whats the average R value for 100mm rendered polystyrene Foam and from various sources it should be between R 2.7 and R4.0 , them being the least and highest values that I have seen, and many more values in between. Not sure if I should be able to find that information anywhere else in my own builder's paper work? Thanks On our working drawings there was a "Insulation Schedule" section which detailed the insulation for the roof, walls upstairs/downstairs/internal/external and between the floors (floor joists). Also remember while the wall may be 100mm thick, it won't just be all polystyrene, so I doubt it the wall would be up to R 4.0. Best to check with the builder what it actually is. Thanks St Goerge, but my paper work explicitely says "100mm rendered foam fixed to frame" everywhere, and also I just learnt from quick googling that this rendered foam comes in 50mm,75mm and 100mm thickness usually. SO I believe the total wall thickness is going to be = frame+rendered foam+ additional render coat externally+additional plastering thickness internally. Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 17Sep 25, 2013 9:32 am bashworth StGeorgeBuild What is the R value of insulation in the upstairs walls? R -Ratings depend on the foam thickness, typically: 50mm - R1.2 75mm - R1.8 100mm - R2.4 Thanks Bashworth(sorry I seem to have slipped through this particular post of yours before) Also, Have you seen the aircon installation issue as JB points out above? Any work around that you are aware of? Re: rendered cladding upstairs - Is it good enough? 18Sep 26, 2013 4:04 pm What the above posters mean is that it is difficult to mount something like an aircon unit where the wall is foam. You may have to use something that uses stand-off brackets bolted into the timber studs through the foam or something similar to support the aircons weight. Stewie The spacing of the studs looks pretty large especially for a load bearing wall. 3 8180 Most of the time, council will push you out to a private certifier as it ties up their limited resources. Where a builder has gone belly up, the certifier passes the file… 7 2431 I have a home gym at home. It weights 150KG including the weight stack. I'm a big boy, around 150KG myself. I was thinking about moving it up stairs to the second… 0 3843 |