Need advice on building material!

[jaymanek]

Hi All,

well the yard that is going to be full of cars soon is coming to an end. CCTV is in, gates and bollards are in, just waiting for tarmac now..

Anyway building has never really been looked after as no one ever used to go around here so its a bit neglected. My dad covered all the broken windows with large sheets of welding metal.

im going to be selling cars from here so need to have it looking tidy.
ive already spent a huge amount on the civil works so am looking for something that will last but will not cost the earth.

Have looked into corrugated sheets that are used on roofs but these arent cheap at around £25 a sheet...

anyone have any ideas?

 

[verytalldave]

I would guess that whatever you use has got to be fairly vandel resistant. Also, not liable to shatter into shards that could harm anyone standing below if one broke.
I dont think the answer will be cheap. Probably the most cost effective option would be a very open weave metal mesh welded in place. That would give you light and ventilation but not weatherproofing. Wired glass in the quantities you need would be very expensive unless you can salvage a large quantity someone is throwing away. Flat UV stabilised clear or obscure PVC is an option, but could suffer at the hands of vandels. You could try exchange & mart in the construction section. Might be something there.

 

[jaymanek]

well it needs to look good too, the other stuff we have found is white plastic covering that UPVC companies use... but this only seems to come in 30cm wide strips!

 

[Howard]

What about triple walled polycarbonate like they use on roofs ?

My mate just had the terrace roof done on his restaurant , comes in big sheets as you can see here ....

Its frosted and heat insulating too .... so it lets light through but you can't see through it , and keeps the warmth in ...

 

[jaymanek]

hmm it cant be see through as behind a lot of it is just the internal breeze blocks... good thought tho..

 

[Howard]

It's not see through , it's a milky white .... added another photo

Grey breeze blocks wouldn't even show ....

 

[jaymanek]

thanks howard, will ask the builders merchant about it...

 

[grober]

How about this firm. http://www.planwell.co.uk they offer a free quote.

 

[reflexboy]

How about old egg boxes? Oh, sorry, I thought I was still logged into the Blue Peter forum On a serious note, you can get several kinds of exterior wall cladding, from an industrial look right the way through to cotswold effect (the latter positively naff though)

 

[jaymanek]

any idea where though? ive been to jewsons and travis perkins...

Thanks

 

[Ade B]

google exterior cladding and tons come up.

have you considered timber - either plywood or cedar boards or even shingles. Tough, can be treated for fire resistance and easy to install and maintain - and environmentally friendly. We are looking into this for a housing development we are doing at the mo. The key thing is timber looks good when it ages.

A lot of composite/plastic cladding panels weather badly under UV (no matter what they say in their blurb) will look good for a year, after that will look really tatty.

The mesh and polycarbonate solutions could look quite good - very contemporary

Best solution would be a facing block or brickwork which I guess is over your budget.

Best of luck.

Ade

 

[Dieselman]

I would go for the exterior cladding used on new industrial buildings, as already shown in the Planwell linky.

It looks great and rejuvenates an old building.
In addition it's corrosion resistant and can have insulation put behind it to improve the building insulation value.

 

[jaymanek]

I would go for the exterior cladding used on new industrial buildings, as already shown in the Planwell linky.

It looks great and rejuvenates an old building.
In addition it's corrosion resistant and can have insulation put behind it to improve the building insulation value.

yes thats the stuff we have been quoted for from local suppliers at about £25 a sheet... if i can get it cheaper it would be ideal... apparently there is a yard in birmingham that sells it cheap but not sure where it is... have to do a bit of digging....

 

[Howard]

Thought you wanted to put it on the wall , not underground ?

 

[Ade B]

Just a thought but you might want to speak with your local council regarding planning consent as you may need planning permission for changing the external envelope of the building..

There may even be grants available for improving the building.

Ade