help me render my house

[Novice_builder]

Hi everyone, first post so go easy on me eh.

I'm gonna undertake what for me is a major project, rendering the front and back exterior walls on my semi detached house. The house is about 50 year old and the original render is all but depleted now.

My problem is, I have read so many different articles on the subject, asked one person for advice and I seem to get conflicting responses. The walls I'm hoping to render are no fine construction, 20mm pebbles, pea shingle or something, I forget exactly, but anyway, 20 pebbles they are or gravel if you like, mixed with cement to form a non porous wall. So once I've hacked all the old stuff off and got back to the concrete wall, what then? What are the constituents of a render mix? Sand, cement, lime maybe? Which kind of sand? What proportions? How thick a coat can I do and how many? Maybe 2 coats 1/2 inch thick is what I was thinking. Then for the finishing coat, this I imagine will be about 1/8th inch thick and sprayed on using a flickatex machine. What are the constituents of this finishing coat? Can I get away with troweling it on and then applying the textured finish with an artex roller, or will that make a pigs ear of the job?

So many questions I know. I really would be most grateful for any help. What I really need is an instruction book, but I've not seen anything on the rack at wickes, am I the only person that wants to render his house? Thanks in advance guys.

Paul

 

[legs-akimbo]

just what kind of finish do you want to end up with firstly.
dashed, tyrolean, napped, sponged render,,,,, etc etc

 

[Novice_builder]

I'm going for a tyrolean finish since it looks as if thats what the original builders used. I'll use one of those clever flickatex machines and I'll also be able to use it to touch a few small areas up on the end wall which is otherwise basically sound. Can I mix the tyrolean myself or have I got to pay for a proper bag of pre mix?

Thanks