Your home's exterior walls protect the home interior from harsh weather conditions, ensuring the safety of your family and preventing damage to valuable household items. However, they can deteriorate rather quickly if left exposed to the elements.

Cement rendering is one of the best ways to protect and add years of life to the external walls of your house. It involves applying a mixture of cement, sand, water (called cement render) to your home's exterior walls to protect the building from weather damage. 

Just like other construction products, cement render doesn't last forever. However, there are things that can be done to maximise its life.

Here are three useful tips for increasing the durability of your residential cement render application.

Use the correct mix designation for the underlying substrate

Not all backgrounds to which render is to be applied are the same. To ensure a quality cement rendering, the render mix proportions must be suitable for the underlying substrate. 

The mix designations to be used on different surfaces generally range from strong to weak. The only way to determine what mix designation is right for your house is to get the building inspected and assessed first.

Apply cement render to the correct thickness

Cement render is generally applied in two or more coats, with subsequent coats getting progressively thinner. However, the mix designation must remain consistent for each coat.

For cement rendering to last longer, it must be applied to the appropriate thickness. This will depend on a myriad of factors, including but not limited to the following:

  • The strength of the underlying substrate.
  • The porosity or absorptivity rate of the underlying substrate.
  • The local climatic conditions.

Not applying cement render in the appropriate thickness is a surefire way to make your rendering fail prematurely.

Maintain cement render properly

As your home's the first line of defence against the elements, the exterior cement render is bound to develop some cracks and other forms of damage over time. If any damage or wear to the render is left unaddressed, then the problem will exacerbate over time and potentially result in a complete failure of the protective layer. 

Undertaking regular maintenance on your cement render is a great way to ensure early detection and repair of issues that may cause the render to fail before you've amortised your investment. 

For more information about cement rendering services or maintenance, contact a local service provider.

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