Repair render or replace with pebbledash

doelani

We live in a 1900 terrace and have 2 cracks in rendering at front. We have lived here for 12 years and from and they are the same as they were when we moved in. No damp at all inside house so these only seem to be service cracks in renderign. When we bought house surveyor never mentioned them , when we remortgaged about 6 years ago surveyor recommeded we get the rendering "repaired " . This was not a condition of mortgage just a comment.

After the frustration of ringing 4 different plasterers who never bothered their backsides to ring back to arrange to come out to look at it we have now had 2 guys out.

First asked " are you sure you want to remove the plaster to pebble dash? The plaster is sound, everywhere he checked was not blown in any way " He did give us a price.

Second plasterer came today and he said " Why do you want to take original plaster off? You will lose the character of hosue ( we have decorate plaster around windows that we would lose unless we paid BIG money to get it done again like for like ) " He also said plaster is sound and would be a big job to take it off , first company said the same . he recommened repairing it and getting house painted again. He acually said he thought the way I had described the cracked the plaster was falling off the wall and gaps in the cracks, definetly not.

So now confused, to get the house chipped and pebble dashed we need to borrow the money, the get cracks repaired and house painted we have the money to do this.

Any houses in area that still have original plaster all seem to have hairline cracks in plaster somewhere, have seen some repaired and painted and after a few years the plaster cracks again. When you look closely you can see where ours has been repaired in the past , probally 25+ years ago as man who loved he before us did nothing to house for over 20 years before we bought house.

Has anyone repaired cracks in render instead or replacing ?

thanks

tanith

We repaired rendered walls in a house I used to live in , its certainly a big and expensive job to remove and replace a whole house thats rendered. I've only ever seen it repaired which seems to work fine. I guess if the builder is recommending you repair it I'd go with his experience. Why do you want to pebbledash it instead of having the render repaired? Would pebbledash be in keeping with the neigbourhood?

doelani

tanith wrote: »

We repaired rendered walls in a house I used to live in , its certainly a big and expensive job to remove and replace a whole house thats rendered. I've only ever seen it repaired which seems to work fine. I guess if the builder is recommending you repair it I'd go with his experience. Why do you want to pebbledash it instead of having the render repaired? Would pebbledash be in keeping with the neigbourhood?

thanks for reply

I guess the reason for pebbledash is as we though no painting agian but a lot of houses we have seen have been pebbleddashed and they have still ended up painting them after a few years.

Weird thing is 3 different people who I mentioned to we were thinking of doing the work has asked " why ? " seems the cracks bother me more than others, I think they are really noticeable but seems they are now lol

SJshah

I would get it repaired and re-painted. It doesnt sound like those cracks would be reappearing any time soon. Repairing and painting is cheaper and would look much nicer than pebbledash IMO.

Our house is pebbledashed and most of the pebbles have fallen off over the years due to weather. We always see pebbles on our patio/drive and need to sweep them occasionally. Painting cost is also higher on pebbledashed walls due to needing more paint and the time taken to paint between pebbles.

tanith

Well seems the concencus of opinion is why would you pay out thousands when you can get the cracks repaired so much easier and cheaper, we actually have painted pebbledash on the house we live in now so pebbledashing is no guarantee you won't have to repaint at some time, we have ours done every 5yrs or so. By the way I hate bare pebbledash and I don't much like it when its painted either lol.. I prefer brick but needs must when we bought this house I'm afraid.

doelani

thanks for the replies

think we have pretty much decided that it will be repair,

fatbikersbouncebetter

Repairing is the cheap option, if the render is not holding damp or hollow when tapped, then repair, BUT the repair will always be seen. I would never do pebbledash these days, its a bit 70's.
One issue with any sand and cement based render is that 'CONCRETE' is none-porous , and non-flexible, so any damp behind the render can not get out, freezes and causes cracks.
This may just be condensation, and as mentioned often becomes hollow.
I would look at ISO NORDIC wall coatings, available from various trade outlets. Their breathable, acrylic coatings can be roller/brush/airless sprayer applied and are flexible and thick enough to fill and hide small cracks. Not cheap, but a long term alternative.

NB: Brick or stone effect finishes from Stonefxwalls are god bust for a 2 up terrace maybe £2000.

My last ever rendering job of 160 sq mtrs was started by removing 100mts of loose render in 2 days, and the last 60 too a week. (Hard as nails).