Released on = September 5, 2006, 2:40 am

Press Release Author = Guy Alexnader Bell/NPA

Industry = Real Estate

Press Release Summary = Everyone hates stone cladding, and while the 80\'s are coming
back into fashion, thats not the case for houses. If you want an ideal home, stay
away from this method!

Press Release Body = Stone cladding can cause problems by trapping moisture within
the walls of a house instead of allowing it to \"breathe\", but removing it is a
difficult job and best left to professionals.

The team or the builder who would remove it, would probably erect scaffolding and
may even board up windows, then - starting from the top - will smash off a piece of
cladding with a hammer. Then the builder has to chisel under the remaining pieces,
taking each piece off one by one.

The brick beneath will invariably suffer and removing stone cladding can take the
original mortar joints and even the faces of the bricks or blocks off. It them may
also be discovered that the cladding was applied to conceal or hide more serious
problems such as major cracks and subsidence. The surface left after stone cladding
removal may need a lot of work to get it up to scratch, maybe even sandblasting or
shot blasting, and in more serious cases, the home owner may also have to get the
exterior re rendered and then painted, or they may have to purchase a specialist
wallcoating.

It\'s unlikely you can restore the wall to it\'s original state\" says Guy Bell
of NEVER PAINT AGAIN uk, specialists in, amongst other things, stone cladding
removal, \"so it\'s best to put up another surface onto the wall that is in keeping
with the character of the house\"

As a rule of thumb, removing stone cladding can be a costly and expensive business
and frustrating too, that time and effort has to be spent having to undo what was
essentially a fad or fashion in the 1980s. Stone cladding is still used today in
many different forms, but mainly as a feature, such as a window head or quoins (the
corner stones on house edges), but rarely does a house being totally covered in
stone cladding appear like as in previous years, people perhaps have more taste
nowadays!

Another issue is quite a paradox. If the original cladding was installed by cowboy
builders, it is far more likely to be easier to remove than if it was applied to the
exterior walls of the house by professionals!

Also what does one do with the leftover rubble?
Rather than take it to the landfill site, or pay for someone to remove it, some
stone cladding pieces could be put to better use as decorative walling or edging in
the back yard or garden!

There are many ways that the home owner can save both the environment and their
wallet by simply using their head!

What is stone cladding?

For people who don\'t know, a definition in archinet, a great architects directory,
suggests that: Stone cladding can be used internally and externally. Internally,
stone cladding tiles can be directly fixed to internal walls with adhesive.
Externally, stone cladding is normally attached with stainless steel fixings; there
are also proprietary stone cladding rainscreen systems, which typically attach stone
cladding panels to extruded aluminium mullions fixed to the main structure. With
stone cladding rainscreen systems, any moisture penetrating the front seal is
drained and expelled through weep holes in the stone cladding.

Another form of stone cladding takes the form of a thin layer of natural stone
bonded to the exterior of a concrete panel; this produces the effect of stone
cladding while economising on material.

The materials used for stone cladding can include marble, granite, sandstone,
limestone and slate.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you would like to be featured on my site, you
can either ask me a question FREE, or if you are a budding author, you can submit
your article to us for inclusion on this website. It must be related to home repair,
remodelling, home improvements etc, so email us at articles@neverpaintagain.co.uk
(cut and paste this link into your email client).


Web Site = http://www.neverpaintagain.co.uk

Contact Details = Guy Alexander Bell (no i didnt invent the telephone!) is the
english editor of the paint and coatings website \"Never Paint Again\". The site gets
7 million hits per year and is visited by around a quarter of a million people every
year. NPA acepts submitted articles too so please visit our site and take a look
around. If its paint you need, NPA is here for you.
www.neverpaintagain.co.uk