Would love to see any photos of the New England style cladding, we have a 1960's house that we are updating and are considering both render and cladding. We are making the top windows deeper and are trying to decide whether to use white or grey aluminium/pvc frames. We have had grey (covered in tape in pic) bifold doors installed but can have these powder coated in white if it is better to stick to white windows. Thank you!

As far as the driveway is concerned you appear to have a sound concrete surface there already. If you can find a good local contractor who is properly trained in Resin Bonded Gravel then you could give you price to change the finish your driveway without digging it up at all. That would avoid a lot of cost and wastage so it is likely to be cost effective. The edging and any areas which are not would need to be considered carefully. A contractor may want to drill out core samples to check the thickness of the drive but it has been used for some time and not cracked then it should be fine. Resin Bonded Gravel is stuck onto the existing surface which will need to be clean and dry at the time. Check that any contractor has been trained and is properly insured.

I’m glad I found this post. Feeling like I could cry. Just had front and back of the house rendered in Atlas ‘off white’ (renderer said white was too stark) so went with off white…The colour looks like it has a tinge of pink/lilac/grey to it 😭 😭😭 Feeling very depressed as it was a big job. I was advised by the renderers to repaint using silicone paint.

It turns out that we need to remove the render and either replace with lime render or repair the bricks underneath. Trouble is, we have an extension which wasn't built by us. Any ideas how we would know if it's brick or blocks under that part of the render? The footing is exposed and is brick. Would this mean it's brick all the way up? Interested to know how we could blend the old building with the new. Can you put lime render on blocks? Also have been told by a damp specialist that we should pull up the concrete floor and replace with a suspended wood floor and air bricks. This would allow for ventilation and help prevent damp travelling up the walls. Would rendering in correct render allow for the walls to breathe enough? Pulling up the floor seems very extreme! He said the concrete floor is likely to have damp as it can't breathe - is this likely to be true? I thought damp under the floor would be caused by leaking pipes etc. Although I get what the guy is saying about a suspended floor as that's how the building was built, I'm not sure how much I trust his conclusion! He didn't even look at the damp before saying to remove the floors...just how the building was constructed. So confused what to do! Any advice would be appreciated. My head hurts from trying to decide on the best cause of action!