Render

Jaykay7

Hello

My small extension has been rendered to the ground (before I moved in). Water is splashing up against it & there are green marks against it.

Am I right in thinking there should be a gap between the ground & the render to let it breath??

If so, what do I need to do? Chip it off?

Previous owner was a right cowboy!!

Thanks

olias

It should only be rendered down to the DPC. If the render bridges the DPC, then you will get damp. Don't know the best way to solve this. Cut the bottom off with an angle grinder? It will be difficult to do a neat job. Probably best to get someone in rather than risk bodging it and it looking a mess.

Olias

andy69_2

Just chip it off yourself mate to save money its not hard, normally about 6/8 inches off the floor i find

Jaykay7

What did I chip it off with?

I was thinking cutting it with a grinder, but what do i do after that?
I presume under the render will be the bricks? Is there anything I can paint them with for water protection?

The room was built by a cowboy without a doubt, so whether it has a DPC is open to discussion.

andy69_2

Use a bolster chisel and a lump hammer. Underneith will just be your bricks, if their is any pointing required it wont take you long to do that either, Shouldnt need to paint with anything unless you want to paint it black with an outside paint if it goes with your colour scheme mine is black with white render. You can see if it has a dpc by looking a brick or 2 up from the floor their will be a black line which is the plastic all the way accross the wall

Jaykay7

Thanks for that, I will have a go.

What if it does'nt have DPC?

Yeah I was thinking of painting it black.

andy69_2

If it doesnt have a dpc, Being honest I don't know, I dont know if you HAVE to have one, could get someone in to do one for you, but I THINK most houses have them now I think they used to use slate instead of plastic but not entirely sure so dont take my word for it. If your not having problems with damp then you should be ok. You will see the dpc tho, have a look around the hopuse outside about a brick height or 2 and see if you can find one and let me know how you get on

punknzippy

their should either be 2 courses of blue bricks with the dpc on top of that or as some people dont bother useing the blue bricks then follow the floor level through to the outside as the dpc should be at the same level as your floor .
if your render is lower than the internal floor level then yes chop off render to that , and if underneath the render looks a bit ruff then try local diy store for some nice masonry paint to cover up .
best way to cut off render would be to use a disc cutter , one for a neater line than a bolster and 2 because belting it with hammer n bolster will undoubtably disturb + crack the bit you want to stay on .
once a straight line has been cut then chip off lightly with a bolster ..... cutting it will seperate it from the bit you want to stay on so will not disturb it when chipping lower bit off .

elektra-2007

ive got the same prob and had a damp survey just yesterday, the guy said the render shouldnt be right to the floor and there should be "bell housing" at the bottom when i asked what it was, he said its a plastic strip that is put on the bottom to form a lip so water runs down and flips out, so maybe worth getting some and concreting it on the bottom i doubt a bit of plastic strip will cost much.