Cracks in exterior render - what to do?

song_of_calliope

We are buying a house that has had it's front rendered and there are a number of cracks in the render, and also the render is patchy - like parts of it have been redone in slightly different colours. It's a semi-detached and next door seems to have been rendered more recently as it also has some cracks but fewer. The sides and back of both the house we're buying and next door are brick.

We are going to get a full structural survey to rule out subsidence and if that comes out ok and we decide to proceed, how do we make the house look decent.

Do we get the render removed and re render? Do we get it removed and try to restore the original brick if that's even possible? Do we try to get the cracks repaired and then paint over everything? Is the neighbour going to be annoyed with us and is it possible whatever work we get done could damage his render?

The house is Victorian and I don't know whether the render is lime or concrete. My guess is that it could be concrete and this could be why it's cracking?

Would you buy a house with this problem, what would you do to fix it, and how much approximately will it cost? Or should we cancel the sale, and save the £1,000 the survey will cost if its a no hoper anyway? Thank you if you can help at all.

Doozergirl

All render ages and cracks over time, it's just what it does; house move and render cracks. It's unlikely to be the sign of a real problem. You can hack it all off and start again but it might be easier to hack back where the cracks are or the patchy parts and go over those and then get a good decorator to finish it well.

You'll never be able to restore the brickwork, forget that.

Don't worry about the neighbour, if the renderer causes any damage it can be fixed easily enough.

leveller2911

song_of_calliope wrote: »

Do we get the render removed and re render? Do we get it removed and try to restore the original brick if that's even possible?

It can be re-render and it can also be completely removed and the brickwork can be restored. The difficulty with removing the render and renovating the brickwork can be issues such as if the original brickwork was always intended to have have render applied and so the quality of brickwork may be poor .

You may well find that the quality of the bricks used was poor,no need for good quality bricks if they aren't going to be seen under a render. The way to remove the render is sandblasting, which in turn can destroy poor quality bricks. You may well need to replace a number of bricks and also re-point the entire house.

It can be an expensive job.

Do we try to get the cracks repaired and then paint over everything? Is the neighbour going to be annoyed with us and is it possible whatever work we get done could damage his render?

Difficult to say, I would ask a plasterer .Not sure why your neighbour would get annoyed, its your house not theirs. I can't see why it would damage your neighbours render.

The house is Victorian and I don't know whether the render is lime or concrete. My guess is that it could be concrete and this could be why it's cracking?

As previously mentioned, houses do move and cement render cracks so I would seek advice but its more than likely to be render that has cracked rather than subsidence. Good Idea to get a full structural survey.

Would you buy a house with this problem, what would you do to fix it, and how much approximately will it cost? Or should we cancel the sale, and save the £1,000 the survey will cost if its a no hoper anyway? Thank you if you can help at all.

I would accept the advice of your surveyor and ask a plasterer for a quote (including scaffolding if necessary) and knock the costs off your offer.

Good luck BTW

Radsteral

look k rend or weber on google, we do lots like this now , its the new type of render, silicone based and as part of the system, the whole place is covered with mesh..very unlikely to see cracks again unless the house moves greatly
the render may be more expensive but comes finished in the colour you vant so it goes sort of same as you were to render , wait 1 month to dry then paint


if your rendering is solid, then a thin coat of this system can be applied roughly half cm, incorporating mesh, and that's les work than hacking starting from beginning etc
most renders are sand and cement, and traders tend to add more cement than they should, cement being cheap... that's one of main factors of cracks
we go to hack a cracked wall and many times its impossible to break it... the render comes with half of the brick

song_of_calliope

Thanks for the responses. I like the sound of not seeing cracks again, Radsteral. Doozergirl, I think maybe best to just remove it all and start again as based on the patches it looks like repair jobs have been tried in the past and failed. Leveller, that all sounds reasonable and thanks for your good wishes!

Anyone have any idea of costs to remove old render and apply new stuff? This is the front only of a typical 3 bed semi with bay windows upstairs and downstairs. The bay window frames are wood and need to be painted as well.

Doozergirl

The problem with pricing is that no one knows how hard it is going to be to remove the old stuff. It could fall off or someone might have to spend days at it with power tools.

song_of_calliope

Thanks - even a wide range of possible prices would be good. I'm budgeting £2,000 but it would be good to know if it could be significantly more than that.

nobulljusttruth

Yes its concrete, the Victorians did not use cement render. Doozergirl is not quite right as you can reface in brick effect using a lime based system but its not a DIY job.

Most houses that are rendered have issues with the bricks or changes to the windows sizes so rendering is a simple 'hide'.

Crack appear because the cement is not porous and damp can not get out. The house might have no cavity which makes it worse.
It needs knocking off and as someone said above a silicone through colour OR
There is a company that does refacing render that is porous and is finished to look like bricks. I can;t find it now but search 'Pimp my pebbledash' on youtube it was there.

I contacted them about 3 years ago for a price which seems reasonable (2 up 2 down £3000), about the same for K-rend at th e time. DO NOT re-render with sand & cement, it needs regular painting and will come off in 3-5 years.

Hope this helps.

song_of_calliope

Thanks, no bull! Was that price for all three sides of a semi or just the front like ours needs by any chance (the side and back of ours are brick so am hoping ours will be a bit cheaper...).

nobulljusttruth

I guess it depends on the size, shape and how bad the existing render is. Ours was for the front only, but but was a weeks work to get it ready. It was about 7mtrs x 5.5 mtrs so pretty large.

Worth asking I guess. I found the number for the guy if you want it ?

:beer:

song_of_calliope

Thanks, nobull, I found them.