The Ultimate Guide to Recladding your Home
A home renovation is an exciting opportunity for any homeowner.
It is a chance to open new doors and see your vision for your dream home come to fruition.
It’s very easy to get lost in all the nuances of renovations and focus on the immediate details that are presented to us. Because we spend more time inside our houses than outside, most homeowners have an idea of what they want from their perfect kitchen, bathroom and living area. This makes perfect sense as these are the places we see everyday, are most intimate with and therefore spend the most time visualising their improvements.
But even though it’s easy to take note of internal renovations, everyone can agree that your home’s exterior requires the same level of consideration – if not more – to create a fantastic facade that is both practical and will put a smile on your face everytime you pull into the driveway. Renovation Works understands getting started can be overwhelming. Unlike interior renovations, recladding your home requires you to think about factors that aren’t in plain sight. Factors that we don’t spend every single day interacting with, and at times, require expert knowledge to get the optimal results out of a your home recladding project.
Your home’s cladding is it’s first impression. Choosing the correct materials for your recladding project needs is the first step in leveraging this powerful visual asset. It is also important to weigh the difference in costs for each of these materials, both initially and for maintenance overtime. Making the right decisions in the planning stages of the project will allow you to take full advantage of all the benefits of recladding your home – both aesthetically, practically, and financially.
This is why we’ve put this ultimate guide for recladding your home together, so that you are able to start planning your project on the right track. It will help you visualise your home’s recladding potential, and clear up some of the confusion the initial start of these projects can have.
There are 6 different materials used most commonly for recladding a home. These materials have a range of different features, price points, and choosing the right one that suits your needs is the first step on the journey to recladding your home.
6 Common Materials for Recladding a Home
1. Brick
If there’s one material that’s proven it’s resilience since humanity first started building houses, it’s brick. Even though it has been used for centuries to build homes it still stands as a reliable material to this day. It’s quite remarkable that this simple material offers such impressive features.
Brick has stood the test of time because it is highly durable with little to no maintenance. Couple this with the fact that it ages incredibly well and this is a great option for people that are after a solution that they know is battle tested. Furthermore, brick provides top notch insulation properties, is inherently fire resistant and has a low rate of moisture absorption. This means brick is a great option for keeping your house safe, healthy and warm.
These days, brick is available in a range of different colours to offer a diverse choice in home aesthetic preferences. Out of all the cladding solutions, brick is attributed having the best durability over time, with a lifespan of up to 80 years.
One of the downsides of brick cladding is that, unlike it’s lightweight counterparts that can be fixed to an existing home’s frame, the weight of brick requires it to be set directly into the home’s foundation/slab. This ultimately means that it is going to cover some of the internal square footage of your home as the brick walls ultimately sit inside the footprint of the house.
If you like the aesthetic of brick, but are concerned about any of the downsides of brick cladding, there are a large range of brick veneers that provide an artificial (and believable) brick finish.
2. Plaster and Concrete
Similar to brick, the use of plaster and cement has a rich history in the ancient world. This innovation was pioneered by the Greeks and Romans and was used as a literal cornerstone in building their great civilisations. Nowadays, plaster and concrete cladding is generally associated with houses built in the 1930s and 1940s. In the years since then, plaster and concrete finishes have been improved with better materials technologies and application.
Modern application finishes look spectacular when chosen correctly, with a wide range of textured and smooth finishes. Plastered and cement cladding allows you to choose from a range of textures and patterns to suit your taste, all of which perform better than their antiquated counterparts. A classic look with modern durability. It’s versatile selection of finishes make it easy to compliment any other cladding your home may have.
The term “plaster cladding” is a blanket term that encompasses a wide array of different finishing systems. These different finishes each have different properties that can suit your home depending on your needs, from increased durability to energy efficiency. Talking to Renovation Works will help you figure out which is the best choice for your home.
Using a trusted renovation expert to oversee your recladding project will allow you to use plaster for all of its benefits, with well-thought out design and application coupled with a healthy maintenance regime you won’t have to worry about your home suffering from any symptoms of the leaky home epidemic.
3. Metal
The most commonly used materials for metal cladding are aluminium and steel. While steel is more expensive than aluminium, it is a great choice for homeowners that are worried about the durability of their homes cladding. Aluminium is lighter, cheaper, but is more susceptible to damage and weathering.
Even with that in mind, aluminium is still renowned for its corrosive resisting properties. It is highly flexible allowing for some creative design applications. Because it is lightweight, it requires fewer joints and easier building application. These are the factors that have propelled it to being the second, most used cladding material in New Zealand.
Metal cladding allows for some aesthetic and bold architectural choices. It opens the door to some interesting patina that can form over time. However, it should be noted that metal cladding lacks a lot of the insulating properties of other cladding materials, and if you choose to go this route, some research and careful considerations need to be made to protect your home from temperature changes.
4. Timber
Timber has found its home as the choice of cladding for many New Zealander’s homes. It is lightweight and has a natural beauty to it that is always on-trend in home design.
There are multiple styles of timber cladding such as weatherboard and slat screens. Most common in New Zealand is Radiata pine-back weatherboard which has dominated a large segment of our local market for decades. However, it does have some of the factors that can make timber harder to maintain – it can warp and move over time and requires a stringent maintenance plan (even needing to be replaced at times). It can also darken due to long term exposure to UV light. This is why other timber cladding options have gained popularity over the years. For instance, cedar cladding can have a conservative lifespan of 25-35 years, removing many of the head aches that can be associated with timber cladding.
Fibre-cement weatherboarding is often a choice people make who are after greater durability than timber weatherboarding (with a lifespan of around 50 years) while still getting that weatherboard look that they are after.
5. Stone
When it comes to stone cladding there are few different options. Some popular options are granite, schist and slate. These can usually be sourced locally and can be found in many kiwi homes. Stone cladding or panels are a great way of creating a focal point such as an exterior feature wall and can easily be complemented with other cladding options.
This choice is often paired beautifully with homes in a rural location – or surrounded by natural bush – as it blends them into the landscape and uses the natural aesthetic to its advantage. The separation between architecture and nature is blurred and the result can be phenomenal.
6. Vinyl
If you’re looking for a cost effective, low maintenance and durable option for your home’s cladding, vinyl could be a great choice for you. It is extremely lightweight, making installation a breeze, and the huge variety of options available means it opens the door to plenty of aesthetic outcomes.
Choosing the Right Cladding For Your Home
Now you’re familiar with some of the more common and popular materials used to reclad your home. This is the first step in setting up your vision for what you want out of your home recladding project. Renovation Works are here to partner with you to help bring this vision into fruition. We work with you to take your ideas and ensure that they are executed to perfection. Renovation Work’s guides you so that your vision isn’t compromised, while still leveraging the best choices for durability, sustainability and in alignment with your budget.
With over 25 years experience in the renovation sector, Renovation Works are your home recladding specialists. So get the best possible results out of your recladding project by booking a free consultation, contact Renovation Works today.