External Render

Hi

I am in the middle of a self build and I am getting to the stage of external plastering.

There appear to be some horror stories involving coloured renders - I was thinking of going with white sand and cement. I don't like the look of an unpainted sand and cement finishender made using ordinary (grey) cement.

Is this much more expensive than ordinary cement? Is it more durable than a coloured render or monocouche?

Any comments would be appreciated

Corkboy

...fwiw, I had my first house plastered by a local plasterer with white cement and white sand, way back in 1995, and I had a limestone chip added as well. It has never faded, and is a fraction of the price of monocouche, and there's 10 times as many people who can do it.

The only caveats are: white cement (Turkish, iirc...) which is a bit more than std, and the white sand has to be really good - I forget the property exactly, but I think it has to be silica-free ? Either way, a good plasterer should be able to tell you. If he can't, oops, move on to the next guy !