is aluminium cladding good?

[ponyfire]

Hi All
I have been looking at some IP's in country areas, many of them are ex-commission houses and the weatherboards have been covered with aluminium cladding. I have no experience of this and wonder if there could be any 'hidden' problems underneath? Also, is it possible to remove it and restore the house to a weatherboard exterior, I think this would give it more character and the option of changing colors.
One place I looked at today had the 'fake brick' look which is just Horrible!
Any ideas welcome
Ponyfire

 

[willair]

ponyfire,
as long as the weatherboards are still in place then
i think you will have any problems,just sell the scrap
aluminum to pay for the paint..
good luck
willair.

 

[Sunfish]

The fake brick is indeed awful. I think that cladding is an expensive alternative to painting but once in place I would leave it unless it was damaged or the house had particular character.

Surely it is easier to paint than weatherboard?

Thommo

 

[TerryG]

Have lived in an aluminium-clad weatherboard house for 12 years.
Pros - Easy to paint. Virtually maintenance-free once done properly.
Cons - Difficult surface to prepare for painting. Every flaw stands out like the proverbial ... especially dents and bends. The aluminium's surface must be 100% clear of old paint (unless the previous coats are sticking well and not peeling - test with a high pressure hose on medium force and not too close). Use an etch-primer definitely else your paint will spread incredibly thin and you'll need >4 coats, and then it will peel off.
Cheers, Terry

 

[Quarol]

Kill the cladding

Our PPOR had aluminium cladding, we have got rid of it now and painted the place up and it looks a million times better. We also weighed it in and got a few hundred bucks for it.

It is a pain in the bum to remove, there were wooden wedges nailed on to the original weatherboards, then a layer of styrofoam and then the aluminium. It is sharp and horrible to handle. We did half ourselves and then got fed up and the painter did the rest and the bits we couldn't reach.

What we found underneath though, was an absolute delight. A beautiful little Queenslander, with perfect weatherboard and a few other features like nice gabled apexes.

Not sure about an ex housing corp house, but it would give extra street appeal. The cladding look is very ordinary.

I guess if the houses are low set then it would be easier.

Good luck
Quarol

 

[keithj]

Our PPOR had aluminium cladding, we have got rid of it now and painted the place up and it looks a million times better. We also weighed it in and got a few hundred bucks for it.

It is a pain in the bum to remove, there were wooden wedges nailed on to the original weatherboards, then a layer of styrofoam and then the aluminium. It is sharp and horrible to handle. We did half ourselves and then got fed up and the painter did the rest and the bits we couldn't reach.

What we found underneath though, was an absolute delight. A beautiful little Queenslander, with perfect weatherboard and a few other features like nice gabled apexes.

Not sure about an ex housing corp house, but it would give extra street appeal. The cladding look is very ordinary.

I had a similar experience - no-one wanted an aluminium house, I checked the WBs were still there & is reasonable nick underneath, got it cheap, ripped them off & painted it. Result - lots of character.

In the old days paint lasted only a few years, so cladding was cheaper in the long run. Nowadays paints lasts 10 yrs (so Dulux tells me).