What render?

Hi,

I've found some old threads on this subject but I'm still confused as to which way is best.

This is a house remodelling. A whole new 1st floor. Walls are outer skin of medium density block. These are smooth rendered. Render stops at ground floor window top.

Which is the best system, or what are the pro's and con's.

I've currently got a house that is painted brick and I find paint lasts, well current paint was put on 15yr ago. It could do with a repaint, mainly because of alge I think (dark stains). No algaecide used last time so with algaecide maybe it would have lasted longer.

I've no objection to paint and it seems to me it has advantages if you need to do repairs or alterations as with a coat of paint you can't see the new from the old. So would I be best off with traditional render? Or is there something in between? Or are self coloured really the bee's knees?

Cost wise if I'm painting myself which render system would be cheaper? And what sort of difference? Area wise, ignoring windows, it would be 113m2.

Thanks

I'll answer my own question then for the benefit of others.

House is new cavity wall block work. This page, from a manufacturer of blocks, says I'm best to stick to tradition render since new one coats have had failures that are currently unexplained (so there is no fix to stop it happening again as they don't know why it happened). Hence I'm going to stick with traditional render. The datasheet is also useful info (and repeats the advice to avoid 1 coat renders). From this datasheet the preferred render mix includes lime and cement rather than just cement which is understandable as lime breathes and gives some flexibility.

The house then needs to be painted but this doesn't give some advantages - repairs can be invisible as you can just repaint the area or that wall. Typical repairs would be, new waste pipe through a wall, changing windows (when outside render has to be hacked off then replaced after), etc.. A one coat, self coloured, system would not be an invisible repair unless this was done not long after it was installed I reckon as the old render would be a faded colour.

The old truism is that you never paint masonry or brick.

Masonry, or specialist, paint is used on traditional render. Never use plastic paint.

OK... I would have thought it a given that if you are painting a house wall you use masonry paint. Would anyone use anything else? Or maybe I dunno what you mean by plastic paint.