rendering helpppp

tanco

Hello, I am noob to DIY in general, but having to learn fast as the house I am working on is a DIY nightmare... remember a film with Tom Hanks called The Money Pit ?, well that is this house, exceopt mine is a small terraced cottage built in the 1800's

Having spent months in my 'after work hours' trying to fix this place up internally, I am now moving to external walls which are rendered. The coating has some substantial cracks in various places, my thoughts were to get it all off, and fix up below somehow.

When I looked at the drainpipe coming down the side of the wall, there was a flake of thin render, which i pulled, and then a small piece came away, showing what was below, which feels like very soft sand, basically like the soft sand you would find at the beach. Is this normal ??, is that what is supposed to be below the render ?, it is an old house, but I am just hoping that this isn't the sign of even more major issues I have to sort out....

Do I have to bite the bullet and get professionals out, or can I patch this myself ?, funds are running low so hopefully 'myself', and what would I use, any good places to look to see some info on this type of work

cheers for any help / advice.

ormus

if its a small area then patch it yourself. no big deal.
esp as youve no money to replace the whole wall.