Cheapest mix for external render please

[Linzie]

Hi,
The render on my garden walls has had to come off because it is crumbling and moving away from the walls, the bricks underneath are terrible, I have knocked out a few of the worst bricks and put new in, have patched up the mortar where it was missing completely and rebuilt one of the walls that was collapsing. I now want to put up a new coat of render to hide the rubbish underneath but the ready mixed stuff is really expensive and I can't find which render is best to use between the lime stuff and the cement stuff neither can I find how much of it to mix and I really need it all to be as cheap as possible.
Before someone tells me it's too hard to do or to ring a professional, please don't, I realise it might be a bit tricky, the people at B&Q and Wickes took great pleasure explaining to me in words of one syllable that I wouldn't be able to plaster my hall, stairs and landing myself, I did it and have had a number of people asking for the number of my plasterer because the finish is perfect. I am sure rendering the garden walls can't be much harder, I just need to know what to use please and the cheapest place to get it.
Thanks in advance, Lynsey xx

 

[roy c]

Have a look at the "Wiki"..

 

[roughcaster]

For someone like you who is "so good" at plastering, i don't think there is much more i can tell you,, apart from saying that a good tradesman would never, ever "cover up rubbish underneath". The "underneath" is the "key to a good job", and hey,, i'd "love to see your plastering". Another thing, doing a job as "cheap as possible" will cost more in the long run.
Anyway, scratch coat,,, 4 to 1 plastering sand and cement, with a combined waterproofer/plasticiser added to the mix in measured quantity. Top coat render, 5 to 1, plastering sand and cement with added plasticiser, (waterproofer optional in top coat), you can use a cement mixer, or why not hand batch it,,, easy,,, not!! apart from that, the job's a dawdle. Mwahhh. x.