Your guide to external finishing

By UMAR NSUBUGA

When it comes to finishing the exterior of your home, there are certain things you must consider to make the difference.

Abdu-Wahab Nyanzi an architect at JR Consultants says,“It is important to note that a lot can go wrong at this stage of the project. Doing it yourself is an option, but you can play it safe by hiring a professional like an architect or engineer to work with you,” he says.

Once you have a professional on board, he will assist you select among the multitude of finishes available on the market. There is a misconception that finishing is only paint or gutters. External finishes cover features like window sills, type of arches, balustrades, rails, floor covering to porches, wall fences, pavers and compound designs.

Windows

Nyanzi says windows look good, if they are finished with a window sill. These come in all sorts’ of designs and could be made from a multitude of materials.

“The market presents sills and pre-cast or cast in-situ. Some of the materials used to make sills include stone, concrete,plastic and timber. Some sills are also made from floor or wall tiles. The architect or engineer should be able to advise you well on which one to select”, he advises.

Porch

The porch can be the most beautiful part of your home, provided it is decorated and maintained properly. To decorate it you can use rails or balustrades. You can paint the balustrades any colour of your choice but it should preferably be a calm colour like white or light pink, or cream.

Nyanzi says porches can be made and designed in an unlimited number of ways. While working on the entire house design, it’s important to point out any special effects that you would like to have to the architect.

Nyanzi also says the form and shape has to be well thought out at the time of design to achieve as a good result. The architect can propose arches, pergolas, bollards or hand rails to be part of the porch.

“It is critical for the architect and client to appreciate what the porch shall be used for. Some are made for breakfast specifically and so the type of floor finish and walls could matter. There are clients who like porches to be an active extension of their living rooms hence dictating the kind of finishes that will match the transition between the two spaces” he says.

In order to add charm to the porch, choose the right colour. Choose colours that do not heat up for instance, brown, yellow, white, light pink or sandstone material whichwill keep the porch cool and scintillating. Materials chosen to design the porch should match the colours of the entire house to make the whole design look elegant.
Walls

Nyanzi says a number of developers finish their walls in paint. This is probably the most affordable finish on the market. “Architects have a range of paints to select from. The market though presents a number of types of paints that if not applied properly could turn out bad. Ask the architect for guidance on whether to use weather guard or vinyl paint, matt or gloss, plaster primer or undercoat” he says

The market also has a number of wall renders that can be applied to walls for a magnificent appearance. Some of these finishes require very low maintenance while others are specifically made for dusty environments like many in Uganda. Nyanzi says external walls can also be finished with materials like cut stone, facing bricks, flattened rough cast, pointed mortar and many more. There is a lot of room to be creative here. The architect has to be careful to select materials that will work well with exposure to the elements of weather.

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Features: External finishes cover things like pavers

Beautifying your exterior Flower gardens

Many people do not realise how important a well-designed garden is, it can make any landscape and its surrounding more beautiful and increase the home’s value.

Apart from making your compound beautiful, flower gardens will give your home environment a natural ambience and will attract insects like butterflies, bees and more.

Boundary walls

These are supposed to be used with strong materials when you are building. These are solid structures that define an area and in this case they design the home exterior through providing home security.