Browse Forums General Discussion 1 May 09, 2014 8:40 am We are still kicking around in plan sketch up land and we happened upon an interesting conversation with our designer when discussing what the front of the house will look like. He suggested because as we are building atop a garage that the current plan (and costing ) is for a "floating" material and not bricks as they would require extra beams in the garage ceiling to accommodate the weight. These "floating" options were cladding (timber or stone) or tiles adhered to blue board, render over blue board or even render over foam block! I'd never heard of foam and he said its probably not great as you can't put a ladder against it, no sh1t! who would go for that?! So assuming we are rendering and some timber here and there (not a massive fan but we'll come back to that some day) we started talking about how far around the house to brick or render or both and they were hinting towards blue board and render around the whole house... yes, no brick other than the garage as the footing for the house... I was speechless after the conversation and really just zoned out a bit and wanted to hit the net to find out of this is really a done thing or if we were about to be a pet project for some designer.. Thoughts? Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 2May 09, 2014 8:42 am someone asking a similar question http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67595
Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 4May 10, 2014 9:03 am Both those links have dubious information in them mikkyG. Quote: I've been told that it cracks much more than blueboard. Incorrect Quote: it's also a highly flammable material Incorrect, most EPS is definitely non-flammable and out performs other cladding in this area. EPS foam has been used as a cladding in Europe for at least the last 30 years because of its light weight and its superior insulating properties compared to other cladding like Hardies Blueboard. It is also a lot less likely to movement therefore cracking if installed and coated correctly. I'd say 30% of two storey homes have foam cladding to the upper level these days. Here is one link viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64439&p=1172139#p1172139 Lots of discussions on these forums to the pros and cons. Heres one with a bit more tech info viewtopic.php?f=38&t=70205 Stewie Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 5May 19, 2014 10:43 pm can I hijack this thread rather than start my own? Our site is long and narrow with 900 setback at each side. We're happier to choose lightweight products to simplify build and reduce trades etc. My priorities are 1) cost and 2) time we need to complete asap as we are already midbuild and living onsite. wee also live in a low cost housing area so any money spent must keep us within market values. We are not keen to stay for years so need to protect our capital. I've read through the CSR booklet which goes through the "Cost of the walls" research, but seeing as though it's CSR research into CSR products I know it can't be relied on for independence, even before considering project specific variables. So what might be the lowest cost solutions available to me? When our planning first started I investigated panel construction and lightweight options. At that time painted blueboard was regarded the cheapest choice but I know it also is quite flawed and so leaned in preference of axon and similar csr panel. I have a passive design and want a high performance house without big costs either upfront or running. People make one happy, not houses? I do not think so. Houses are more to be trusted than people. Elizabeth Aston, Mr. Darcy's Daughters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDX0tgONFs http://lightndreamy.blogspot.com/ Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 6May 20, 2014 4:27 am From what I notice, most people seems to forget one fundamental factor.. Lets face it, all kind of cladding will have a chance to crack, even brick wall. (don't tell me you haven't seen one with huge crack).. The reason for the cracks mainly due to movements in foundation. So if you have a good foundation with soil test come back with Class A. You aren't going to see much cracks no matter what cladding you use. With a bad foundation on a Class E, any cladding will have chance to crack with you just walking in your house. The reason why people say that bricks don't crack is mainly due to the tolerance. With small movements, it doesn't have too much effect on it and designs for expansion and contraction is in place, so most of the time movements are "forgiven". Once you start to see cracks in brick house, it really means something is really bad underneath (most of the time). For weatherboard cladding, you don't see much as well.. If you can see a crack bad enough, you know it is going to fall. For other types of cladding with rendering in place, tiny movements will show on the wall as the wall is rendered as a "single piece". How bad the crack will be and if that can be fixed easily depends on the system you choose.. cement render, acrylic render.. Out of these 2, acrylic render is more forgiving as tiny movement is not going to make it crack "yet" and it is easier to fix. It is not hard to search thru the net for information regarding each type of cladding and products available. Most will describe the kind of render that can be applied on them. There are really quite a lot alternatives apart from blue board (cement boards) and most are better than it but so far none is cheaper than it (initially). Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 7May 20, 2014 7:22 am Stewie D Both those links have dubious information in them mikkyG. Quote: I've been told that it cracks much more than blueboard. Incorrect Quote: it's also a highly flammable material Incorrect, most EPS is definitely non-flammable and out performs other cladding in this area. EPS foam has been used as a cladding in Europe for at least the last 30 years because of its light weight and its superior insulating properties compared to other cladding like Hardies Blueboard. It is also a lot less likely to movement therefore cracking if installed and coated correctly. I'd say 30% of two storey homes have foam cladding to the upper level these days. Here is one link viewtopic.php?f=31&t=64439&p=1172139#p1172139 Lots of discussions on these forums to the pros and cons. Heres one with a bit more tech info viewtopic.php?f=38&t=70205 Stewie Is this another case for Mr Myth ... Re: Bricks, cladding, sheeting, foam are these all real opti 8May 20, 2014 8:10 am Possibly St M. but more like misinformation and a lack of acceptance of newer ( OK I know poly has ben around as cladding for 30-40 years ) building materials by everybody from builders to clients. Stewie Thanks. Yeh ideally that would have been good, but have progressed too far now. Hoping some well placed internal walls fixed up into the battens will provide some… 2 5402 Standard uninsulated double brick has an R value of around 0.7. An insulated standard 90mm stud timber frame can have an R value of around 2.7. Even if you insulate a… 17 12034 Oh no! I would use a can of expandable foam ( there are some that will take render) then cut it back and render over the top 1 4141 |