Your Comments
Thanks for taking the time looking at our Blog. We hope you find the content informative and useful.
Please feel free to ask our staff any questions you may have about property wall renovation, there is a mine of information at our disposal from staff members who collectively have many many years of experience.
If we can possibly help in any way then don’t be afraid to ask. Remember that if you cant be bothered with all this stuff, you could always email us directly or call us with your questions or comments.
In the meantime please feel free to browse the wall2wall solutions website.
Regards
W2W
Hi
We have an old property circa 1750 solid wall, thick brick.
The outside was rendered with cement (painted not sure what paint) when we bought it.
We have damp inside mainly at the bottom of the walls in one room it is particularly bad.
The render has cracked and come away in places.
We have had several firms round but they all tell us different things some recommend patching and coating the render with some sort of plastic render finish while my local builder has suggested removing it and re doing in cement and sand.
Would lime be an option and if so what type
Comment by Paul & Sarah sharp — June 6, 2008 @ 9:23 am
Hi W2W
The render on my gable end has cracked and blown beyond repair so I have had to remove it. Unfortunately the brickwork underneath is not very good which I suspect is why the previous owners had it rendered. Can you recommend a suitable brick tile to go over the whole gable. I have checked B&Q and its is way to expensive, anybody any ideas?
Steve
Comment by Steve Fox — June 6, 2008 @ 9:53 am
Hi Paul Sarah
Sorry it’s taken a little while for me to answer your questions.
This blog stuff is new to me so bear with me.
Firstly I would not recommend any of the thick textured coating systems that you often see on the internet.
To put it simply you could make matters worse as they can often trap moisture in, a good analogy is that you will be wrapping your house in cling film.
The coatings get hard when cold and brittle they then crack and allow water ingress in between the coating and the wall this water cannot readily get back out. See what the Telegraph columnist has written about them http://www.askjeff.co.uk/content.php?id=6
On modern cavity walls textured resin coatings are fine but I would not recommend them on solid old walls.
The best advice I can offer is to remove the render you may well find a lot of damp behind the render allow this to dry out for a day or so and go for a NHL (natural hydraulic lime).
There are mainly three types of NHL lime feeble 2 moderate 3.5 and strong 5 you need to examine the background that the render is going on to determine which grade of NHL to use.
Sometimes slaked lime putty is used usually on wattle daub or cob buildings
I can not over stress the importance of selecting the correct sand and mixing to the correct ratio of lime the base coat aggregate should be washed graded sharp sand.
Also an arras beads used should be stainless and not galvanised as in time they will rust
The final finish could be through coloured lime or you could paint it with lime wash or beeck silicate paint.
What you will end up with is a truly breathable flexible render that will look in keeping with your period property.
If you need any More information please do not hesitate to post a new comment or email me at chris@wall2wallsolutions.co.uk
Comment by Chris Beaumont — June 23, 2008 @ 10:15 am
Could you please give me tips and advice on how to prepare and patch up a pebbledashed wall to match existing.Never done it before so as much info as possible please?Many thanks.
Comment by Aubrey Millward — August 12, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
Hi Aubrey
Patching pebble dash is a fairly skilled affair especially if you plan on leaving it unpainted.
We have found its best to cut the edge back of the patch to offer a clean edge, rather than hacking the edges off.
Depending on the thickness of the backing render and the aggregate used you should get a rebate of around 15-20mm.
depending on the thickness you may require a scratch coat Use a sand cement ratio of 1-4 mix (one part cement to four parts sand a sharp sand should be used, make sure you incorporate an integral water proofer into the base coat to reduce “suction” a good one is sold at Whickes .
The consistency wants to be easily workable, trowel apply the base coat on and scratch the surface to create a key.
The next day or whenever apply the “butter coat” this is the same mix as above although you may want to incorporate a 2 parts ratio of finer builder’s soft yellow sand into the mix.
Before you apply the second coat make sure you thoroughly wet down the scratch coat this is to reduce suction which could result in the render going off to quickly which would result in the pebble bouncing off the render not into it.
You can also paint the backing render surface with Uni bond PVA be careful if you use PVA as some of the cheaper ones can emulsify
Trowel apply the second coat on
Don’t spend too much time getting it flat as the pebble hides slight undulations or float lines also make sure you apply it not too thick or thin it should accommodate the thickness of the pebble.
As soon as the butter coat has been applied cast the pebble onto the wall with a small shovel off a tray if you are skilled enough you can catch the excess pebble before it hits the floor and cast it on a second time.
(a cheap coal shovel is good)
Do not use sweeping ups!
No matter how good a job you do unless its going to be painted you will see the repairs.
If its Canterbury spar (pink) you will have no problems getting hold of it, if you plan on painting it the colour doesn’t really matter although you will want to get the shape and size something like.
A good place for specialist aggregate is
http://www.derbyshireaggregates.com/dry-dashing-aggregates.html
Chris Beaumont
Surveyor
Wall2Wall Solutions
Comment by admin — August 12, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
currently under costruction a Polysteel house. External walls made of polystyrene. looking for solution to render acrilic render with a plastic reiforcing mesh and plastic beads at ccorner and around eindows and doors.
need advice quotes and material for 1/sqr to see quality and aproval from client.
cheers
dave
Comment by dave harel — October 15, 2008 @ 2:14 am
Hi Dave
We have just completed 500 M² of rendering & Acrylic finish coat on an ICF house with external polystyrene slabs ( http://www.logix.uk.com )
Without doubt and provided to you free of charge our design system is as follows
HP12 Base coat (very sticky) embed nylon mesh scrim into same coat about 2-3mm thick.
Second coat of polymer render use PVCu corner bellcast stop beads, (or stainless smooth flat face finish.
MASK windows etc prime in WBS universal primer colour of primer depends on final finish colour. Trowel or spray (spray gives a really nice uniform even finish)
Chosen texture we recommend 2mm.
Cost per M², £125
Ask us for jobs you can look at
We also can include real brick & stone quoins or cladding to form features and plinths etc see our other site http://www.clad.it
Regards
Chris Beaumont
Comment by Chris Beaumont — October 24, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Our Blog is now Fixed, sorry for any inconvenience
W2W Admin
Comment by admin — February 25, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Possibly too small a project for you. the brickwork,about 1.5m high, beneath the windows on 3 sides of our house is covered with a non porous paint which is cracked, peeling and holding in the moisture. How best to remove this, repoint and make good enough, probably for repainting. A quote or some idea of what we should be looking for from another company able to take on this smaller project would be welcome. Thank you.
Hi
Thanks’ for your posting to Wall2Wall Solutions Depending on the type of paint it may be possible to use a light sand blasting or hot water jetting method to clean the paint off, chemicals are also available we find this supplier to be good
http://www.stripperspaintremovers.com/
If you give them a call they will help you, you can even purchase a small test kit of various stripper chemicals.
Re pointing if required may be best undertaken in natural hydraulic lime NHL it depends on tha age of the property, make sure the beds are raked out a minimum of 15mm and cleaned and dampened to ensure a good key.
We use an injection pointing method and usually finish off the grout in a bucket handle profile (slightly bevelled)
It seems a shame to have to paint the brick work again but we understand if the brickwork is messy, i.e. patched up sections spalling brick etc) then this may be your only option.
Another option you may not be aware of is our brick cladding system.
This involves the fixing of a breather brick carrier which is mechanically fastened to the wall we can then clad the walls in either a modern metric brick or a cut down brick, we literally have hundreds of bricks to chose from. See our sister site http://www.clad.it
Let me know if you want me to email you some before and after pictures of this system.
If you wish you can email me some pictures of the walls on your house I can provide a ball park figure for you.
Comment by Chris M — March 17, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
Hello
We have a timber kit house built inside an old rubble barn. The exterior was rendered with cemement, which is now starting to crack.
You had visited my neighbours house to provide them with a quote a few years ago. But at that time they had allready had the render removed from the front. I understand that if this render had not been removed the best solution would have been a plastic paint.
Can you enlighten me on this?
Regards
Ruari
Comment by Ruari Treble — February 4, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
Hello,
I have a solar panel with a broken glass (numerous small cracks, so I’m guessing it is tempered glass). The solar cells were bonded to the glass during build, and I fear I would break the silicon cells if I try to ‘replace’ the glass–the panel still works quite well as it is, but I don’t want to leave it out in the elements for fear that rain may short the circuit. So, my plan is to either put another sheet of glass over-top, or a thin film, or a clear coating. I would prefer to not have the extra weight of another sheet of glass (and frame), and clear films may not hold up to the sunlight very long. Of course I would have to do some testing to see if your coating would drastically affect my solar panel performance, but I’m willing to take that chance if you believe your W2W clear coating would adhere to my glass. (Your website specified that this product was designed for multiple surfaces, but glass was not in the list.) What do you think the life of the product would be for my application? Does it ‘yellow’ or fade over time? And where can I purchase a pint/gallon of your product? Thanks,
Ted
Comment by Ted Moore — February 9, 2010 @ 9:24 pm