Ventilated, suspended facade instead of ETICS?

Hello,

has anyone had a ventilated rainscreen facade (VHF) installed on their house?

So far, a classic ETICS was actually planned (old building), but I was never particularly enthusiastic about it (especially not with EPS). Ventilated facades are said to offer many advantages, especially in terms of building physics and design possibilities. However, of course, also at a significantly higher price (a concrete offer in our case is still pending).

A large part of the additional costs apparently arises from the necessary substructure as well as the actual facade cladding. Although I could also live with a classic plaster facade here, I simply find the construction overall much "cleaner" (meaning the separation of the insulation layer and the weather protection layer or cladding).

Anyone with concrete experience, also regarding the additional costs? How about do-it-yourself work? Could something like the substructure be done by oneself?

Some of the companies that were here for an ETICS offer said that this is very rarely done in the private sector precisely because of the high costs, almost only ETICS. Is that really the case? Personally, I only know one case with a VHF (new building, wood cladding). Perhaps there are only a few companies that can offer this professionally. I don’t think every painter/plastering company can do it neatly...

So I will equip a gable wall with a VHF before winter.

Basically, it is not particularly difficult.
First, you make a vertical battens into which you then clamp insulation (mineral wool (Isover Ultimate)), e.g. 6cm thick.
That means the battens also have a thickness of 6cm.
Then you make a horizontal battens and the spaces in between are filled again with insulation, e.g. 6cm mineral wool.
That results in 12cm insulation.

Then again a vertical battens with 3-4cm distance to the mineral wool (this is the ventilation gap) and on these battens you then install the facade.

I would not use wood for the facade. There are enough alternatives that look like wood and a facade is usually seen from a few meters away. So you will hardly be able to recognize the difference.

I will probably go for Eternit Cedral for the facade. It looks like wood, comes in all kinds of colors, and the material is simply durable times ten.

I think any somewhat skilled DIYer can manage that. Pay attention to edge terminations, distance to the roof, etc. So before starting work, inform yourself in detail again and consider problem areas (windows, balcony) and get informed.

Eternit and probably many other manufacturers usually offer an all-around worry-free package.

The advantage of this facade for me is clearly that it is ventilated from behind. In my opinion, it is a clean solution and also much more resistant/better in terms of sound insulation.
With rigid foam that is glued on, I am somewhat skeptical.

But you should also check beforehand how much roof overhang remains near the facade after installation. If it is too little, I would rather install a bit less insulation. At least that is how I will do it.
I still have to find out how many cm are "necessarily" needed or simply should be.
There are certainly systems that could reduce the roof overhang to practically zero without problems, but the overall look of the house still has to be consistent.

Material costs for insulation + battens + Eternit facade + small stuff will probably be around €70-80 per m².

I find the price acceptable.

That doesn't sound bad at all.
At that price, I would definitely prefer that over an ETICS. However, the costs are estimated to be easily twice as high if you have it done by a professional company.

I assume you don’t want to stop at just this one wall? Old or new building?
I assume the division of the insulation material into battens and counter battens is to keep the thermal bridges that arise as low as possible? Otherwise, you could also insulate it with a single batten.

As far as I’ve read, mineral wool is almost always used as the insulation material in VHF. Isn't that risky during processing? Mineral wool should not soak up water, but when doing it yourself it will certainly take some time until the exterior cladding / weather protection is installed. I would have some concerns about whether everything will work out.

We have about a 40cm roof overhang on the gable sides. So far, about 14cm ETICS were planned; as VHF it would certainly be about 18-20cm. Borderline, but hopefully still okay if you use a proper exterior material.

I absolutely share your assessments regarding the advantages of a VHF.

The VHF is also so expensive because the substructure must be aligned precisely with a spirit level and laser. That takes time. and experience. Otherwise, the VHF can quickly look wavy......

By substructure you probably mean the supporting structure for the cladding? That is of course correct, it must be done accurately here. But with the battens/counter battens, into which the insulation is inserted, presumably not every millimeter is crucial. Of course, the insulation should be neatly clamped and fixed in place. Here I see the greatest potential for DIY.

So I won’t be using a laser to build the facade...

Yes, the mineral wool shouldn’t get wet. Of course, it depends on the weather. I hope it stays dry for 1 or 2 days so I can get it done...
I’m not expecting to spend a week or so on it either. But there aren’t that many square meters I have to install.

I will only install it on one gable wall and only half high because there is already a garage roof underneath.

If you have a lot of square meters and are doing it yourself, you might protect the wool with a tarp. But I don’t know if that works well enough...

It’s an old building.

I’m only doing this now before winter because a new roof was put on over the summer and the facade at the roof edge suffered a bit.

Otherwise, I would probably wait for summer. You have longer daylight hours to get something done.