External brick wall face lift - cheap!

M

Michael Croft

Hi all,

I saw a good looking face lift that most DIY people should be able to do. It was 6mm fibre cement flat sheet glued and nailed to a 70's mission brown brick, this was then painted with an exterior grade paint with sand mixed in. Close up it looked like a professionally rendered wall - I was impressed. The sills had obviously been a bit of a fiddle but the end result wasn't bad.

It was a great reno done by some people I coached and they have turned a 70's mission brown nightmare into a 00's Tuscan nightmare (Tuscan not being my thing - I'm an art nouveau kinda guy). But hey, the valuation has gone thru the roof due to their efforts - $380k to $560k. Not bad for a few weeks work!

Cost?? The exterior materials cost them just under $2,000 and they did it themselves. House size about 200m2 single level. A pro would probably charge about $5k plus painting.

Anyway food for thought.

regards, MC
 
Hi Michael,

Glued & nailed. Can you expand a little ?
Did they use normal plaster and tape to cover the joins ?

The current renovation programs seem to use 'blue board'/'cement sheet' on every project. It is indeed a great product. Would it improve the insulation properties of the brick wall ?
 
I recently did a similar thing. Mission brown bricks, ugly and so I decided to render them myself.

I bondcreted to ensure adhesion due to the type of bricks, (can of bondcrete aprox 65 bucks, but is really just a pva glue I reckon from the smell) and then rendered with bags of acrylic render from Bunnings 20 bags @$15 per bag.

I gave it a swirled/sponged finish and then painted, paint was a mis-tint 20lt pail for $100 plus a 4 lt can, just to make sure (it sure soaks up paint) at $65. For a 115 sqm hse only one coat required. I will be trying a patch with sand mixed in the paint soon. The trim timber was painted with another mis-tint tin that cost $30.

Excluding tools the cost was $560. It was an interesting learning experience and not too hard to do.

Now I am just trying to decide how much to increase my valuation figure by...........

cheers,
RightValue
 
Hi,

Aceyducey, the fibro should last 50 years or more, the paint? Well how long does any quality exterior acrylic last? On the northwestern face maybe 5 years, on the southern face maybe twenty. Within 10 it will need a colour change anyway and reval and refinance or two.

XbenX, 90 days, which was the settlement period. Tobe fair they did the inside and a kitchen bathroom and ensuite too. Total reno cost about $40k excluding holding charges (these were non existent because the reno took place before settlement). And add stampduty and legals on aquisition, so total aquistion costs = approx $440k, value now $560k therefore approx. $120k for their efforts.

Jas, photos coming but I've only got the after ones. I'll see if I can get copies of the befores.

WillG, they used a tile adhesive and small concrete nails as pins to hold the sheets in place 'til the glue set. The logic was this; any adhesive that can hold a ceramic tile to concrete or brick and be subjected to extremes of heat, cold and wet ie. a shower recess, should be able to do the job. Well if it falls off in a year or two they'll try something else, in the mean time they will take their equity and put it to good use :D

Right Value, bagging is a piece of cake and cheap to do and looks it too at times. This looks like a professional smooth rendered finish, in fact it looked too good in parts with zero cracks! I have never valued my own properties, I consider it unethical or at the very least a conflict of interest (something about a duty of disclosure)- each to their own I suppose and I hope you are joking.

Forgot to mention that the system also hid a couple of ugly cosmetic cracks in the brickwork and the tile glue has enough give to allow for future movement.

regards, MC
 
Michael

I am always a little sceptical when I see such dramatic increases in value especially given short a short time period. Who did the second valuation? If it was a real estate agent or a valuer acting on behalf of the people who did the reno, has the bank recognised the valuation? To me that it the only true valuation as it locks in the increase in equity for you to then use down the track?
 
Hi Gazza,

You should be sceptical about before and after 'values' as a qualified valuer I know I am. The bank has only done one valuation and that was post reno and they are lending 80% or $448,000 which is slightly more than the total aquisiton costs. In effect a 'no money down deal'.

The purchase price was the before value and I don't think in this market they got a bargain. Perhaps the property appreciated 5% during the 3 month settlement as the market is still booming in the area, so take $20k off their gain for that. Still not bad though.

Sorry WillG forgot the second part of your questions. The fibro would not add a lot to the insulation qualities of the brick walls as there is no dead air space. There is a fibro sheet that comes with polystyrene attached to one side and this would do the trick. Have seen it used on suspended slabs to great effect.

regards, MC
 
Originally posted by gazza
I am always a little sceptical when I see such dramatic increases in value especially given short a short time period.
Click to expand...

Gazza, it's all in the wrist.

After ensuring you select a property which is under median or has good CG potential with a reno you use your wrist extensively to increase the value of the property.

While it's fine to be sceptical - be open towards it...you may wish to add quick CG to a property one day..after all there's no downside :)

Cheers,

Aceyducey
 
Michael,

Yes I was joking about valuing my own property hence the........ after the sentence.

But please michael, extend to me the professional courtsey of knowing the difference of bagging and rendering. Bagging is usually aghieved with a skim coat of mortar applied with a bag or brush where the bricks and mortar joints are discernable. I actually rendered the bricks (I could have bagged the whole place in a day instead of the several days it took me to learn how to render).

All I was trying to add to this thread was support, that is it is quite easy to do and add value, I didn't bag the bricks and I didn't post to be bagged!
RightValue
 
Originally posted by Michael Croft

Right Value, bagging is a piece of cake and cheap to do and looks it too at times. This looks like a professional smooth rendered finish, in fact it looked too good in parts with zero cracks! I have never valued my own properties, I consider it unethical or at the very least a conflict of interest (something about a duty of disclosure)- each to their own I suppose and I hope you are joking.
Click to expand...

where did RV say he used bagging BTW

and as pointed out rendering by RV can be cheeper than cladding with the same look been achived

also l would like to see close ups of the openings how they cut in to the doors and windows
 
Hi Right Value,

Good to hear and I thought so.

Professional courtesy extended. As you know building terms vary from state to state. In Vic you call stumps what we call piers or post footings. As soon as I saw the words swirl/sponge finish I assumed (incorrectly) that the finish was not dissimlar to bagging - it would still appear the only difference is in the thickness of the application.

In this neck of the woods rendering is taken to mean a dead pan flat smooth cement finish with the surface looking like hard packed sand, applied with trowel and finished with wood float (costs about $35-40m2 by pros plus painting). The other textured cement finishes have names too; spanish mission, strike, drag line, rake and so on. These are trowelled on and then treated to provide the effect.

Frenzy, as I said the sills were a bit of a fiddle but look good. They may open up in a year or two, we shall see. A certain type and level of skill is assumed with bagging/rendering which not all possess. Also the mess created is not always acceptable if gardens are to be retained. Anyway each to their own.

regards, MC
 
Hi Michael,

Is there any chance of getting the exact name of the fibre sheet that your friends have used as there seems to be quite a few varieties.

Glenn
 
Hi Glenn,

"I'll get back to you." but not until Monday. All I know at this stage was that it was 6mm thick and did not have a recessed edge.

Investron, the modern fibro is relatively flexible compared to the old asbestos stuff. Must be the cellulose fibres they use as reinforcing or something. Will it crack on the wall? It shouldn't, the glue has some give as does the sheet itself; it really depends on how much the substrate moves though.

regards, MC
 
Hi Michael
Just wondering what joint compound was used, for instance was it premixed water proof variety from CSR, and was jointing tape used, what type was it?
Did they use anymetal reinforcement for the corners.
Were the bricks uder the window sills at about a 45 degree decline. Mine are (classic 70's), I was thinking of making a mould to pour some concrete so the window sill will be almost flat.
Any other tips would be helpful ie start from the ground up, or the other way around.
Is it worthputting a vapour barrier behind the fibre cement
The only problem I can see is if brown brick ever becomes fashionable again, then liquid nails is hard to remove, the ceramic tile adhesive is a good idea that stuff is like superglue.

Regards Adam
 
Michael Croft said:
Hi Glenn,

"I'll get back to you." but not until Monday. All I know at this stage was that it was 6mm thick and did not have a recessed edge.
.....

regards, MC
Click to expand...

Hi, I realise this post was a few months ago, but I'm chasing information on this... did you ever track this down?

Thanks
James
 
Hi intehnet,

This post was a couple of years ago!

From memory, this facelift was done with cement fibreboard (the grey board with a blue colouring on top.

Glenn
 
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