3 External Wall Coverings

A house is a house, right? Well, yes and no. Look at any terraced street and although the houses might be identical in size, shape and layout, there might be a range of external wall coverings hiding the bricks. 

In this article, I’ll have a look at 3 popular external wall coverings. I’m not going to recommend any particular type or say one is better than the other, but just have a look at a few of the most popular ones (‘popular’ in this instance meaning ‘still a lot of it around’). 

Stone cladding

The most famous example of stone cladding is of course number 9 Coronation Street where, in 1989, Vera proudly had her house covered in stone cladding in an attempt to look different to the rest of the street. She certainly achieved her aim and those blue bricks can still be seen on that tiny terraced house in that cobbled street if you tune in today. 

Unfortunately for Vera, that stone cladding didn’t increase the value of her house – quite the opposite in fact, it devalued it and, let’s be honest, if you went to an estate agent in east London, east Manchester or east Lothian, you’d probably give houses with blue stone cladding a swerve. 

However, that’s not to say all stone cladding is bad. In the right location on the right house it can look fab. Perhaps not blue though. 

Pebbledash

Another once popular external wall covering was pebbledash. Pebbledash had a post-war popularity boom as it’s great for covering up poor brickwork. It was also great for scratching kids’ skin when they got pushed against it (yes, I speak from experience here). 

A pebbledashed house is achieved by the house being covered in cement and then having pebbles, sand and crushed stones literally thrown against it (by a machine, not a person, despite how much fun that sounds). 

Pebbledash can be removed but it’s not recommended as, as I said above, it’s great for covering up poor brickwork, so you have no idea what you’ll find underneath pebbledash if you try to remove it. 

Render

I know I said I wasn’t going to recommend any particular external wall covering but render is probably my favourite. Render is like plaster for your house, only outside, not inside. 

It’s simple, it’s smooth, it’s smart and you can render your house in any colour you like. 

Render can be used to help protect your house against damp and, if render on its own is too plain for you, it can be used to great effect with other external wall coverings such as cladding or wood. 

Do you need planning permission?

For most external wall coverings, you won’t need planning permission unless your house is Grade II Listed which, in that case, you definitely won’t be allowed to cover it in blue stone cladding. 

However, for the most part, what you cover your house with is up to you. If you’ve got dreams of a bright pink house though, you might want to consider your neighbours’ feelings about that and ask them if they mind!