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Did you try rendering a wall but it doesn’t turn out the way you would have hoped for? Or perhaps you’ve been watching your wall render gradually deteriorate over time. Regard of your purpose, learning how to repair render cracks on wall is usually a great skill to have with your home maintenance in mind. However, whenever these crack are too large or difficult, we’d recommend you call in a reliable professional who can guarantee the best results for help. In this guide, we’re going to take you through the wall render repairing process. Let’s have a look!

No matter how solid a building material is, over time it’ll yield to the elements. When it comes to wall rendering it may be a case of too much sunshine or a costly mistake in the application process, but in truth, it cracks just because it cracks.

In order to repair render cracks, you’d have to start with a removal of damaged or cracked render. You’ll have to remove all the render or just a small section depending on the area you’re working on. If you’re able to clean all of the existing render as well as the paint over it all (both old and new), then removing a small section would work better as it makes it look neat and redone. Upon the removal of the existing render, the next important step would be to remove all loose material as well. Once done, you can then leave for up to 2 days to allow any trapped moisture to come out. Unfortunately, if the rains you’d have to wait till that dries too before you proceed.

Once dried, you can buy a pre-prepared render mix which already contains cement, lime and sand. Mix a 20kg bag with 4 litres of water (or check the product instructions and follow strictly), the mix to a fine consistency. Render is quick to dry, so you’d want to apply within 30 minutes of mixing. Make use of a trowel to apply the render on the affected spots and blend with the surrounding area.

If you’ve decided to construct a porch to your property and now looking to figure out the cost required to complete the project, then you’re at the right place!

There are many factors that comes to play when determining the price of building a porch. These factors includes the size of the porch, the number of windows, the style of the roof as well as the type of the porch selected. Now let’s take a look at these factors one after the other.

• The Porch’s Size

As you would have correctly imagined, a large porch will definitely cost more money than a smaller one. A rough estimate of a porch’s cost per square metre is approximately £1,400.

• The Number Of Windows

Just like in the scenario above, the more the number of windows to be incorporated, the more money you’ll have to pay to complete your porch. A porch window will generally cost you within a range of £300 to £1,000

• The Style Of The Roof

There are two popular styles of porch’s roof which includes a tiled rood and a rubber flat roof. Generally, roof tiles are costlier than a rubber flat roof. A tiled roof would cost you between £0.80 to £1.80 per roof tile, while a rubber roofing will cost your between £70 to £90 per metre squared.

• Type Of The Porch

Another huge determinant of a porch’s price is type of material incorporated. For instance, if your preferred type is a lean-to, the price of a uPVC would be between £2,300 to £2,700. Meanwhile, a flat gable roof porch should cost within a range of £3,300 to £3,800.

Kindly note that the costs quoted in this article are only rough estimates, for a more accurate estimate you can contact a porch building professional within your local area.

Driveway surfacing materials like concrete, asphalt and clay brick usually crack because they’ve been exposed to extreme temperatures or put under high pressure. It’s important to repair driveway cracks before they get worse and cause damage to vehicles and perhaps others to trip on raised cracks.

With the numerous benefits that comes with the installation of an external wall insulation in a building, it’s also important to find out whether it’s also safe before proceeding to fit one in your home. Firstly, to ensure that external wall insulation systems are safe, they must be BBA approved, which means they’ve been subjected to a thorough testing by the British Board of Agrement and therefore, suitable for use in UK homes.

Given the fact that cladding materials have recently generated a lot of debate and negative press about how reliable some particular materials are, questions are being asked of the safety and reliability of external wall insulation. However we must clarify that, although external wall insulation can be classified under cladding, it is very different to rainscreen cladding - which caused the Grenfell fire tragedy.

External wall insulation is completely safe. However, when it comes to fire, the safety of your system depends largely on the insulation type in question. The safest type of insulation you can have installed is the Rockwool insulation boards which are rated as Euroclass A1 non-combustible. The board is specially designed in such a way that it contains fire - preventing it from reaching the other areas of the building. They also do not produce harmful emission or smoke when impacted by fire.

Meanwhile, the Wood Fibre, is also a great insulation which is known to char and not burn. Contrary to many beliefs, it actually burns slowly creating this charring effect which produces an oxygen barrier that helps reduce the spread of fire.

To make your system safer, you can also make use of Fibreglass Mesh for reinforcement. It helps to improve the strength of the tensile which promotes the security of the boards attached to the wall.

Do you want your house to be built using brick? Or perhaps you just require the professional services of a bricklayer. Regardless of your bricklaying needs, the cost charged depends on each job as every job is unique. Bricklayers generally look at each task individually and charges based on the complexity of each. We’ve put together this guide to give you an idea of the costs charged by bricklayers. Let’s have a look!

Generally, bricklayers charge either based on a daily rate or a fixed price for a particular amount of bricks ( usually a thousand bricks or 10 - 12 metres square). On the average, an experienced bricklayer can charge within a range of £150 to £200 daily rate and if a labour is needed for the job, an additional £60 to £100 may be included to get the job completed in a quick and fast manner. If the quoting is done based on the number of bricks to be incorporated, then a thousand bricks will be quoted in between £350 to £450 which should be completed in a couple of days.

You should however take note that most times, the bricklayer’s cost will depend on the amount of work involved in the project. As a result, a more tedious and challenging project will most definitely cost more than a simpler one. Examples of some difficult projects that’s likely to cost more are hard to reach areas, difficult sites as well as second storeys which are considered to be more challenging than single storey buildings. What’s more? The complexity of the project is also a great cost factor. While some projects are basically direct and straightforward, others involve curves and more complex designs which will ultimately make the cost jump up.

No matter how big or small a building is, it can only be as good as it’s foundation - and that’s a fact! It all starts from the footing and when it isn’t deep enough, unlike badly installed gutters or gapped hardwood flooring, can make the whole building collapse to the ground. Just like any code recommendations, the depth of the footings of your porch is a parameter that must be complied with and adjusted to suit your local code requirements.

As a rule of thumb, you should always dig below the frost line when excavating your footings. At this depth level, the moisture present in the soil will be frozen. Ultimately, this will help the ground to act as a barrier to insulate the soil below the footing from freezing during the cold months. As a result, in regions where the weather is almost always very cold the depth of your footings is expected to be at least 48 inches. But in areas featuring a warm climate, you may be allowed to install your footings on grade.

In addition, it’s compulsory that your footings must be installed at a minimum depth of 12 inches below unsettled soil. However, if you’re constructing the structure into a steep hill’s side or by the side of a retaining wall, it’s required that you maintain the least distance to grade both vertically and laterally. In the event whereby you need to achieve a good lateral barrier, you’ll need to have your foundation dug a lot deeper compared to if it’s on a flat surface. For a more accurate and updated information, you can consult your local building inspection department to get familiar with the requirements in your area.

It depends on the style and size of the conversion, but in general, a loft conversion will take between 1-2 months. A loft conversion is a substantial building project, and plans will need to be drawn up. This may add to the time it takes to complete your loft conversion.

If you’re considering rendering your house or property, then you’d most likely want to know whether or not applying for a planning permission will be needed. In several cases, planning permission will not be required for the maintenance, repair as well as replacement of the existing render on your building. These activities are covered by what’s called “Permitted Development Rights, which allows you to carry out some activities without having to apply for a planning permission but always subject to following some strict guidelines. For rendering, as long as the material (render) possesses an identical appearance to those existing on the house as well as same colour, then you will not require a planning permission. However, there are a number of projects that have been highlighted in which a planning permission would be required. These includes the following:

✓ Re-rendering in a colour that different from the original one used on the house or building.

✓ Rendering over brickwork which was not originally covered.

✓ Rendering over pebbledash

✓ Removing pebbledash and replacing it with render.

Another exception to the Permitted Development rights are for houses in conservation areas, national parks or areas of outstanding national beauty.

Although, you wouldn’t normally require to submit a planning application for approval before you apply render, but in truth it’s actually a bit of a grey area which isn’t totally clear and doesn’t allow for much freedom or creativity. And due to this fact, homeowners who wants an absolute peace of mind may opt to apply for planning permission just in case. It’s also worth noting that whether or not a planning permission is required, a huge rendering work will need to comply with building regulations which includes the need to insulate walls on the inside or outside as part of the work on several older properties .