Exterior Finish Below Render and Weatherboard

[Triassic]

I’ve just started the process of cladding the exterior of my timber frame house. I’m thinking about the splash zone between the finished exterior ground level and where the exterior cladding starts. I appear to have two options, either take the cladding down to ground level or, render the gap, maybe in a contrasting colour.  Come to think of it, I’m not even sure how wide should this splash zone be? 

 

What did you do, a photo might help!

 

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by Triassic

[CC45]

are you thinking of the 150mm above ground level to dpc?  I wouldn't take the cladding any closer to the ground than this.

[Bitpipe]

We left a 100mm gap between bottom of the render system and what was then expected to be ground level. I dressed this with an additional strip of 20mm thick x 200mm deep EPS over the EPS cladding the basement wall, digging out a bit to get the depth.

 

We then ran our paving flush with the top of the render (to allow no step entry to house on all sides) but set 100mm back to from a 100x200mm channel round the house.

 

Next job is to line the EPS with Ubiflex flashing and backfill the channel with decorative white stone chips to act as a french drain, leaving a 100mm gap between the render and air gap and the top of the stone.

 

When rendering the garage with the same system, I managed to get the Ubiflex onto the base of the garage wall first so it runs under the bottom batten - thought of it too late for the house. However if the render is getting fixed then I may hold off and apply it then.

 

Will send a pic later.

[Triassic]

59 minutes ago, CC45 said:

are you thinking of the 150mm above ground level to dpc?  I wouldn't take the cladding any closer to the ground than this.

Yes. I’ve focussed so much on the render and the cladding, I’ve not really considered what to do here !

[lizzie]

Ive got powder coated aluminium

[iSelfBuild]

We used slates:

 

 

The ground level is being raised about halfway up them later on.

[lizzie]

18 minutes ago, iSelfBuild said:

We used slates:

 

 

The ground level is being raised about halfway up them later on.

Your slates look nice what a good idea!

[iSelfBuild]

They are also covering up our 75mm XPS which covers the block plynth and runs all around the outside of the timber frame and roof.

 

I keep on seeing a local builders work on Facebook. The absence of a splash zone makes me stressed out every time...

 

[Triassic]

I like the idea or colour coded aluminum or slate. I might try slate as I have some large slates left over from a previous renovation project.

[Triassic]

Whilst on the subject of rendering!

 

Having sorted out what to do below the render finish, how should I deal with the junction between the tender and the soffit boards? I appear to have two options, either render up to the soffit board (mine is a T&G effect, so lots of undulations) or leave the soffits off and render first and then butt the soffit up to the render. Thoughts?

[Russell griffiths]

8 hours ago, Triassic said:

Whilst on the subject of rendering!

 

Having sorted out what to do below the render finish, how should I deal with the junction between the tender and the soffit boards? I appear to have two options, either render up to the soffit board (mine is a T&G effect, so lots of undulations) or leave the soffits off and render first and then butt the soffit up to the render. Thoughts?

 

Fit a stop bead and fit it 3-4 mm away from the soffit, leaves a nice neat line. 

[Triassic]

How did you all deal with corners in your aluminium trims? I have 4 internal and 4 external corners to do and I’m not sure how it’s done?

[lizzie]

49 minutes ago, Triassic said:

How did you all deal with corners in your aluminium trims? I have 4 internal and 4 external corners to do and I’m not sure how it’s done?

My corners were fabricated to fit, we also had end pieces made to finish off ends of runs.

Edited April 27, 2019 by lizzie

[Triassic]

What surprises me is how expensive these trims are, £21.50 per 2.4m length. Adding up to £723 for what I need!

[Russell griffiths]

13 minutes ago, Triassic said:

What surprises me is how expensive these trims are, £21.50 per 2.4m length. Adding up to £723 for what I need!

Our roofing supplier are providing flashings bent to any profile @£14 per m. 

Are they aluminium or galv coated. 

[scottishjohn]

I notice a lot of cladding going very close to ground 

IMHO that is not good idea

when it rains you get the splashing of water and muck on  to the boarding

think you need a good 12"of stone or something at bottom or your cladding will get dirty and discoloured  over time ,

maybe a grass edging next to house of something soft that will stop the bounce back,certainly paving or anything hard will make it worse

very common in scotland to have 3 courses at least of "fyfestone stone" before render starts and that will be over hanging the stone work 

 i think that is why they do it -rendering stays nice and clean 

old stone cottages the bottom of the wall is always discoloured  when they render to ground ,not quite as bad if a border of chips or something 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by scottishjohn

[divorcingjack]

We have fabricated stainless steel, looks good against the zinc and contrasts nicely against the brick sections. 

[Russell griffiths]

2 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

I notice a lot of cladding going very close to ground 

IMHO that is not good idea

when it rains you get the splashing of water and muck on  to the boarding

think you need a good 12"of stone or something at bottom or your cladding will get dirty and discoloured  over time ,

maybe a grass edging next to house of something soft that will stop the bounce back,certainly paving or anything hard will make it worse

very common in scotland to have 3 courses at least of "fyfestone stone" before render starts and that will be over hanging the stone work 

 i think that is why they do it -rendering stays nice and clean 

old stone cottages the bottom of the wall is always discoloured  when they render to ground ,not quite as bad if a border of chips or something 

 

You are right a lot of newer designs really miss the old standard correct way to do something, white render straight to the floor may look good on the architects computer, but it will look rough in 5 years time. 

We are looking to do something similar to the pic. 

[scottishjohn]

did you find the screws you were looking for 

[scottishjohn]

I was talking to an old mason the other day and he told me something i did not know --I know theres a lot i don,t know 

when they used to build stone rubble walls they always laid the  layers with a slight lean on the stones to the outside --the mortar bed  sloped to outside a bit 

 so  water would tend to go outwards not inwards 

so obvious when someone says it --no damp membranes 200years ago