Getting your house ready for the renderers

This is the checklist we would give you before a job. For the work itself, see our cement rendering page.

Does your house need approval before it is rendered?

Often not, but check before you book. Re-rendering a house is usually exempt development, with limits:

• Heritage. On a heritage-listed house or in a heritage conservation area, rendering face brick isn't exempt and needs council consent, and some councils rule it out. Burwood's controls, for example, say cement render of existing face brick walls on heritage properties is not permitted.
• Bush fire prone land. Re-rendering there is only exempt if the work is sealed against embers and uses materials of equal or better quality than what is there now (State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008).
• Polystyrene cladding always needs a complying development certificate or a development application.

Look up your address on the NSW Planning Portal, or ask your council, before you lock in a start date.

What should be fixed before the render goes on?

• Leaks. Gutters, downpipes and roof leaks that wet the walls.
• Damp at the base of the wall. The Heritage Council of NSW's salt damp guide warns against covering the base of a damp wall with hard cement render: the moisture rises behind it and comes out higher up. Soil, paving or garden beds built up against the wall can bridge the damp-proof course.
• Moving cracks. A crack that is still growing needs its cause dealt with, sometimes by an engineer, before it is rendered over. Our guide to cracks in render explains which ones to worry about.

How do you prepare the outside of the house?

• Clear the walls. Move pot plants, furniture, bins, hoses and anything stored against the house, so there is room along each wall to work and, on a two-storey house, for the scaffolding.
• Garden beds. Cut plants back from the walls. Rockcote's maintenance guide asks owners to keep garden beds separated from rendered walls and weep holes clear of mulch, so this is a good time to fix that for good.
• Access. Side gates unlocked, dogs kept in, cars out of the driveway if the scaffolding or mixer needs the space.
• Water and power. Cement render is mixed on site, so a tap and a power point near the work help.

Should you tell the neighbours?

Yes. Rendering is a messy, noisy few days: mixing, scaffolding and splashes near the boundary. Let your neighbours know the dates, and ask before anything has to go on their side of the fence. On narrow lots, a side wall may only be reachable from next door.

Who does the painting or coating?

Decide this before the job starts. New cement render has to cure before it is coated, about 28 days under Dulux AcraTex coatings, so the coating is often a second visit or a separate trade. If you are booking a painter, book them for after that wait. Our guide on how long new render needs before it is painted sets out the times.

What happens on the day?

Windows, doors, paths, driveways and garden beds are covered before any render is mixed, and the site is cleaned up when the work is finished. If the weather is outside what the render makers allow, the work moves to another day rather than going ahead in conditions their data sheets rule out.