How to have a cement render finish on a timber framed house?

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I've got a timber barn that I want to convert into a house. It currently has a timber exterior which I want to replace with a cement rendered exterior.

I may not have any luck with DDE to do this, but as I want to convert it to a house and it is in the village itself, it would look stupid to recover it in timber, with a front door and windows in it.

Anyway, my dilemma is how to actually complete the cement render to the exterior. Normally this would involve besserblocking up the outside of the building (I want to keep the beautiful timber framing of the building), but as the barn is already butt up against the footpath, I really couldn't go out further than a few centimetres.

What I was thinking we could do is besser block up in between the main timber framing, and somehow tie the blocks into the timber posts. Then perhaps we could cement render over the whole lot on the outside while still keeping the beauty of the beams on the inside.

Does anyone have any ideas? My budget is nearly non existent for this project, so I have to think smart, and I'm not having much luck doing that at the moment.

Thank you to any kind soul who attempts to make sense of my dilemma.

[Gluestick]

When my friend's dillapidated torshe barn was rebuilt, the French contractors infilled the timber frames internally (Blockwork of some sort) and then tacked chicken wire all over the outside and cement rendered.

It's still standing!

 

[Anton Redman]

There are special rails which provide more grip than chicken wire at more cost.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

I'd consider a layer of Heraklith with a lime render.

This is from a UK site, but I know it's also available in France

http://www.skanda-uk.com/technical.htm

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Thank you so much for your time in helping me in what I thought was an incomprehensive thing to explain. You must all really know your stuff to understand what I wrote. The chicken wire is a fantastic idea, and one that I would never have thought of.

I like the idea of the English product too, but perhaps it may be too cost prohibitive for me.

Now I have a plan of attack to approach the application for a permis de construire. Just the application alone could take me months to sort out, but without an idea of how to cover the barn frame, I didn't even have a place to start!

Again, thank you!!!!!

[jimboy]

How a Straw bale. (using local straw bales as building blocks).  This may sound crazy, the method is gaining more credability, not just as an eco-build option.  There are now many books on the subject.  Grand Designs programme, channel 4 followed a couple how did just this in France. 

The beauty of this system of building is the speed, reduced env impact and for you cost.  You can also render, with aid of chicken wire ontop.  Would work well with a timber frame too. You may have to do a bit of research via internet, books.  And check with marie, they allow this style.  But it is totally aaceptable and beautiful in my opinion. There is a great book out ; Strawbale houseplans/ J Bingham. C F Smith.  Gibbs smith publisher.  Lots of lovely pics inside.

Bestest

[BIG MAC]

Why not consider infill with Kingspan faced out with ply / expamet each side then rendered? High performance and lightweight. Alternatively aereated blocks are easy to cut into shape then render but I would still use expamet as these blocks tend to crack when stressed or exposed to thermal movement.