Cement & Solid Rendering, Adelaide

Cement rendering across Adelaide

Dino does solid (cement) render over brickwork across metro Adelaide and some rural areas. On the outside of a house, solid plastering, solid render and cement render all mean the same job: sand and cement, often with lime, worked onto the wall by hand. Done properly, it lasts.

It can be floated flat, sponged for a light texture or brought up smooth, and it takes paint or a coloured topcoat well once it’s cured.

The dependable base coat

Solid render is also the workhorse base coat. When you’re after an acrylic topcoat or a texture finish, a well-floated cement base gives it a true, sound surface to key into. Get the base right and everything on top of it behaves.

What drives the cost of cement rendering

Solid sand-and-cement render is priced per job. Area matters, but so does how flat and sound the wall is before a trowel touches it — a straight new brick wall and an old wall that has moved are very different amounts of work.

Cement render is also often the base coat for another finish. Whether it is the final surface or the first of two coats changes the scope, so it is worth saying up front what you want the wall to look like at the end.

Can cement render be finished smooth?

Yes. Cement render can be finished smooth or textured, depending on how the final coat is worked: floated flat, sponged for a light texture or brought up smooth. A smooth finish starts with a true wall, and badly uneven walls may need extra levelling coats first. Solid render is one of Dino’s four finishes, so tell him the look you’re after when you ask for a quote.

Is solid plastering the same as cement rendering?

On the outside of a house, yes. Solid plastering is the traditional trade of applying sand and cement, often with lime, to brick and block walls, and on outside walls most people call that job cement rendering or solid rendering. It’s normally painted once it has cured. Dino does solid render over brickwork, as well as acrylic render over brick and panels.

How much does cement rendering cost in Adelaide?

How straight and sound the walls are moves it more than you might expect: a true new brick wall and an old wall that has moved are very different amounts of work. Wall area, prep, the number of coats, whether the render is the final finish or a base under another coat, painting and access all count too. Quotes are free.

Does cement render need painting?

Usually, yes. Plain sand and cement render is normally painted or given a coloured finish coat once it has cured, which gives it colour and protects it. A membrane coating goes on much thicker than ordinary exterior paint and bridges fine cracks better. If you’d rather not paint, compare it with acrylic render, which finishes with its own coloured coat.

How long before you can paint new cement render?

Site-mixed sand and cement render needs about 28 days to dry and cure before it’s painted or coated, and cold, damp weather can stretch that. Some pre-bagged quick renders can be overcoated within a few days, so the data sheet for the product used is the guide. Painting too early risks the paint not bonding well, which is why new render is left to cure fully.

Does cement render crack?

It can, because cement render is rigid and can only bridge the finest shrinkage cracks. The risk goes up if the mix has too much water, if the render dries too fast on a hot or windy day, or if it’s run over movement joints instead of stopping at them. Very absorbent walls are dampened first so they don’t pull the water out of the render before it cures. The FAQ page explains when a crack is worth having checked.