Is it necessary to power wash rendered houses?

cyclonebri1

in answer to the orig post;

Please don't do that, you will create problems for ever.

You don't say why?????

To keep up with the neighbours for example?

If it gets a bit green in shady areas/sides, a quick spray of bleach will stop it, if not give it a few months to weather then re-paint.

You can't cheat time.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Doesn't it depend on the render?

Any form of traditional render I'd say repaint but aren't those colour through renders (like K Rend) designed to not need redecorating, just the occasional clean?

phoebe1989seb

I'd never seen anyone do this before either, Money, but since moving to the West Midlands - from Darn Sarth - I have

A neighbour - who purchased his detached, rendered brick mid 1800s cottage last summer - has a penchant for jet washing everything (house-wise, that is!) including said render. On the lane side I noticed multiple flakes of white paint/render on the ground after his endeavours. As he appears to have bought the place with the intention of developing it (and has also stripped the large garden of virtually all plants!), I think he isn't terribly bothered about damaging the fabric of the building.......idiot!

Our (original) rough cast render - dating from when our 1853 house was extended in 1924 - is a lovely (some would consider it dirty, lol!) shade of grey. No way would I let a jet washer anywhere near it.......but I might just be lazy/mean

moneyistooshorttomention

I am a Southerner myself - and thought that might be why I had never encountered this idea until moving here - ie it's just down to regional preferences in different parts of the country.

I thought to start with "There's so many of them doing it here - that maybe it really is necessary and its to do with the different construction of their houses".

But those odd mini-bits lying on my ground after I'd had this done worried me and I dont see how a "proper garden" (as opposed to a concrete garden) would survive this very well and I ended up ripping out plants I'd had growing.

I just hope my house hasnt been damaged by this and I wont find myself having to re-render it at any point ever. I've no idea generally how rendered houses "operate" - as I'm used to the standard brick houses. So I'm hoping they never need re-rendering and your post gives me hope that I can just leave it (same as I would our brick walls) and the only difference to living in the house from here on in (ie as compared to living in a standard brick house) will be that I will need to re-paint it in, say, 10 years time.

I think it's probably pretty standard late 20th century render that this house has got - not "historic" or the other stuff people have mentioned. I believe (as far as I can make out) that it was grey for some time after being put up and that it wasnt "stabilised" (whatever that is....) at the time. That "stabilising" I was told was done prior to it being painted this time - so its done now.

Hopefully, apart from that, I can just "live in it" the same as I would in our brick houses. I wanted my house to be a standard brick one anyway - but concrete blocks/with render on was one of the compromises I had to make as regards quite a few houses here.

Sounds like that re-paint in about 10 years time will consist of:
- having it brushed down
- repaint in standard way.

I'm quite definitely never going to let anyone loose with a power washer ever again anywhere near it.

lush_walrus

Are you by the coast? Not power washing but cleaning down with water or steam is often done to remove salt which does damages render.

moneyistooshorttomention

No - I'm not.

Nearest bit of sea to here is about 2 miles away - presumably that's far enough away to not count as "coastal"??

cyclonebri1

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

I'd never seen anyone do this before either, Money, but since moving to the West Midlands - from Darn Sarth - I have

A neighbour - who purchased his detached, rendered brick mid 1800s cottage last summer - has a penchant for jet washing everything (house-wise, that is!) including said render. On the lane side I noticed multiple flakes of white paint/render on the ground after his endeavours. As he appears to have bought the place with the intention of developing it (and has also stripped the large garden of virtually all plants!), I think he isn't terribly bothered about damaging the fabric of the building.......idiot!

Our (original) rough cast render - dating from when our 1853 house was extended in 1924 - is a lovely (some would consider it dirty, lol!) shade of grey. No way would I let a jet washer anywhere near it.......but I might just be lazy/mean

The practice is at home with hyacinth bucket, it's fashion it's actually long term damaging. Many folks see aging as beneficial rather your toe nails have faded since the last re-varnish:A:A:A