In exposed positions such as high ground, on the coast and where there is little shelter from trees, high ground or surrounding buildings it may well be advisable to employ a system of weathering on the outer face of both solid and cavity walling to provide protection against wind driven rain. The two systems used are external rendering and slate or tile hanging.
Rendering
The word rendering is used in the sense of rendering the coarse texture
of a brick or block wall smooth by the application of a wet mix of lime, cement and sand over the face of the wall, to alter the appearance of the wall or improve its resistance to rain penetration, or both. The wet mix is spread over the external wall face in one, two or three coats and finished with either a smooth, coarse or textured finish while wet. The rendering dries and hardens to a decorative or protective coating that varies from dense and smooth to a coarse and open texture.
Stucco is a term, less used than it was, for external plaster or rendering that was applied as a wet mix of lime and sand, in one or two coats, and finished with a fine mix of lime or lime and sand, generally in the form imitating stone joints and mouldings formed around projecting brick courses as a background for imitation cornices and other architectural decorations. To protect the comparatively porous lime and sand coating, the surface was usually painted.
The materials of an external rendering should have roughly the same density and therefore permeability to water as the material of the wall to which it is applied. There are many instances of the application of a dense rendering to the outside face of a wall that is permeable to water, in the anticipation of protecting the wall from rain penetration. The result is usually a disaster.
A dense sand and cement rendering, for example, applied to the face of a wall of porous bricks, will, on drying, shrink fiercely, pull away from the brick face or tear off the face of the soft bricks, and the rendering will craze with many fine hair cracks over its surface. Wind driven rain will then penetrate the many hair cracks through which water will be unable to evaporate to outside air during dry spells and the consequence is that the wall behind will become more water logged than before and the rendering will have a far from agreeable appearance.
Slate and tile hanging
In positions of very severe exposure to wind driven rain, as on high open ground facing the prevailing wind and on the coast facing open sea, it is necessary to protect both solid and cavity walls with an external cladding. The traditional wall cladding is slate or tile hanging in the form of slates or tiles hung double lap on timber battens nailed to counter battens. Slate hanging has generally been used in the north and tile in the south of Great Britain. Either natural or manufactured slates and tiles can be used.
As a fixing for slating or tiling battens, 50 x 25 mm timber counter battens are nailed at 300 mm centres up the face of the wall to which timber slating or tiling battens are nailed at centres suited to the gauge (centres) necessary for double lap slates or tiles, as illustrated in Fig. 85.
As protection against decay, pressure impregnated softwood timber battens should be used and secured with non-ferrous fixings to avoid the deterioration and failure of steel fixings by rusting.
Where slate or tile hanging is used as cladding to a solid wall of buildings normally heated, then the necessary insulation can be fixed to the wall behind the counter battens. Rigid insulation boards of organic or inorganic insulation are fixed with a mechanically operated hammer gun that drives nails through both the counter battens, a breather paper and the insulation boards into the wall.
For vertically hung slating it is usual to use one of the smaller slates such as 405 x 205 mm slate which is headnailed to 50 x 25 mm battens and is less likely to be lifted and dislodged in high wind than longer slates would be. Each slate is nailed with non-ferrous nails to overlap two slates below, as illustrated in Fig. 85, and double lapped by overlapping the head of slates two courses below.The continuous layer of breather paper, that is fixed between the counter battens and the insulation, is resistant to the penetration of water in liquid form but will allow water vapour to pass through it. Its purpose is to protect the outer surface of the insulation from cold air and any rain that might penetrate the hanging and to allow movement of vapour through it.
At angles and the sides of openings a slate one and a half the width of slates is used to complete the overlap. This width of slate is specifically used to avoid the use of a half width slate that might easily be displaced in wind.
Internal and external angles are weathered by lead soakers – hung over the head of slates – to overlap and make the joint weathertight. Slate hanging is fixed either to overlap or butt to the side of window and door frames with ‘exposed edges of slates pointed with cement mortar or weathered with lead flashings.
At lower edges of slate hanging a projection is formed on or in the wall face by means of blocks, battens or brick corbel courses on to which the lower courses of slates and tiles bell outwards slightly to throw water clear of the wall below.
Tile hanging is hung and nailed to 40 x 20 mm tiling battens fixed at centres to counter battens to suit the gauge of plain tiles. Each tile is hung to battens and also nailed, as security against wind, as illustrated in Fig. 86.
At internal and external angles special angle tiles may be used to continue the bond around the corner, as illustrated in Fig. 86. As an alternative and also at the sides of openings tile and a half width tiles may be used with lead soakers to angles and pointing to exposed edges or weathering to the sides of the openings.
As weather protection to the solid walls of buildings with low or little heat requirements the hanging is fixed directly to walling and to those buildings that are heated the hanging may be fixed to external or internal insulation for solid walling and directly to cavity walling with cavity insulation.