Here are the 5 essential Considerations for Planning a Full Exterior Remodel.
A complete façade renovation is one of the rare home improvement endeavors that offers you immediate aesthetic appeal and long-term value. The choices you make can ensure that your remodel stays trendy and functional for as long as possible.
Before you even start thinking about paint colours and render style, spare a thought for your external wall's feelings. Has anyone checked in with it to see how well it's doing? No? Well, maybe you should, because if it's not in great shape and you go ahead with making it look pretty anyway, you're only heaping trouble on its weary, crumbling shoulders.
Whether it's made of brick, timber frame, fibro, or something else, a damaged wall substrate needs to be repaired by a professional. If necessary, wall sections will be replaced, saving you the heartache of one day losing your entire wall, which would totally ruin all the effort that went into choosing just the right paint colour.
Choosing the right materials should not be based on attractive marketing, it should be based on the location of the property. High UV levels in sunny areas will deteriorate materials that are not UV stable. Coastal properties suffer from salt air and if any materials have metal within them, this will eventually lead to corrosion. Certain bushfire-prone areas require specific fire ratings which will exclude some options.
This is where a timber vs modern product comparison becomes a real one, not just an aesthetic one. Traditional timber cladding needs repainting approximately every five to seven years. Labour, materials, and quite a bit of disruption as another cost is the regularity with which it is done. Options like weatherboard cladding replicate the look or profile of classic timber but are UV resistant, moisture resistant, and have a colourfast guarantee so that they won't drop in value with aesthetic appeal. For many areas, that's not a premium choice, it's just the sensible one.
How you envision the project at its outset really drives the decisions you will make over the course of the experience. Homeowners who conceptualize an exterior remodel as decorating will prioritize initial cost and immediate aesthetic. Homeowners who conceptualize an exterior remodel as a technical upgrade to the building will be working from a different brief, likely to asks about insulation values, ventilation behind the cladding, or how the thermal envelope tends to perform over the course of a full year.
A full remodel is one of the only times you can add exterior insulation between the old wall and the new cladding without major demolition. The extra layer, even if it's a thin one, will reduce heating and cooling loads. The best remodels solve some functional problems and deliver visual results, and in that order.
The initial cost of a full exterior remodel may seem high, and it is. However, it is not the right number to use for comparison if you don't consider what occurs in the following 20 years.
Pre-finished, long-lasting products have a higher upfront expense than their raw or unfinished counterparts. But, the long-term costs quickly balance out when you add up the endless paint cycles, the recurring bills for scaffolding and those labour costs. Exterior siding and cladding replacement are consistently high-ROI exterior renovations, with 69% to 75% of the project cost typically recouped in your home's added value (Remodeling 2023 Cost vs. Value Report).
Compare the total cost over a 20-year period, rather than comparing quotes in the first year. The decision usually becomes easier.
Decisions regarding materials and colors need to be made as a part of the whole or the remodel can look disjointed, a new cladding profile that rams up against the existing roof because you didn't consider how it would work with the other tiles; window frames that no longer look suitable against a changed wall color; or old fascia and eaves that weren't part of your update and now look lost against an otherwise fresh and contemporary frontage.
A home renovation or remodel done well means taking a giant step back before you take a single step forward. What are your fixed elements, the roof, the driveway, any money you've got left over? How does the light work in this direction; how does the light work in that direction (a color that reads as warm and neutral in a showroom can look violently different on a south wall in afternoon shadow.)
Also, you need permits, which take time and may involve any number of neighbours voicing their objection. It's part of the process and ignoring it will just bite you when you come to sell.
If you use correct materials, with a suitable substrate, and consider climate performance in advance during your exterior remodel, it is a costly but perfect way to do the job. This kind of project is an investment, which pays you back in long-term value and all the years of worry-free enjoyment of your maintenance-free home.
