pebbledash vs Brick House

Bio23

Hello All
Gd morning. I need your advice.  I am in the process of buying a house.  The exterior of the house that I just viewed yesterday is pebbledash.  I read somewhere that brick houses are better than pebbledash.  I was even told that pebbledash houses should be cheaper than brick houses. Few (about 30%) of the houses on the same street are pebbledash while the rest are brick. I will prefer brick but cant get any within my budget at the moment. 
My questions are as follows
1) what sort of problems are associated with pebbledash houses. 
2) Should the price be lesser that the a brick house on the same street ?
3) Supposing I buy the house, will the bank take into consideration the pebbledash during the valuation?
Thanks 

Weathergirl_76

I think pebbledash is a coating, which can be removed to expose the original brickwork. Like you, I like brick houses, and when I was viewing properties, I would have to factor in the cost to take it back to the original brickwork, if I liked the house enough to make an offer. I don’t know if it would affected the value though. 

AdrianC

What do you think is under that pebbledash render?

K_S

@bio23 The pebbledash is a covering rather than part of the structure. It should have brick under it, though it may not always be facing bricks.

AdrianC

Weathergirl_76 said:

I think pebbledash is a coating, which can be removed to expose the original brickwork. Like you, I like brick houses, and when I was viewing properties, I would have to factor in the cost to take it back to the original brickwork, if I liked the house enough to make an offer. I don’t know if it would affected the value though. 

K_S said:

@bio23 The pebbledash is a covering rather than part of the structure. It should have brick under it, though it may not always be facing bricks.

@Weathergirl_76 - take note of what @K_S says here...
The structure will likely be brick, especially if it's older, but it won't be "pretty" bricks. They may even have been scored over with a grinder prior to rendering to provide a better key, if it's been retrospectively done.

Davesnave

A friend showed me an affordable pebbledashed property she's keen on last week. She's still my friend, but it didn't take long to establish its wooden framed with the coating on asbestos panels. It's therefore really expensive for what it is, besides being unmortgageable.

In itself, pebbledash is not much of an issue; essentially no different from the render on my house, though changing it's appearance is not an easy option. Like people, it's not what you see that matters most, but what's behind the surface features.

TLDR: You can hack off a surface finish and change it if the structure allows, but it'll cost.

stuart45

It's unlikely to find good quality brickwork under pebbledash. Even if it was the chances are it will be wrecked if hacked off.
Pebbledash tends to go bald in time as the stones drop off, so it looks worse as time goes on. Any blown areas and patches are difficult to repair as they always seems to show up. Difficult to paint to cover up so best left. 
Has the same issues as render with any cracks trapping moisture behind them. 
IMHO Tyrolean or Roughcast are better options than Pebbledash. Unlikely that someone would specify it for their newbuild.

FreeBear

stuart45 said: It's unlikely to find good quality brickwork under pebbledash. Even if it was the chances are it will be wrecked if hacked off.
Pebbledash tends to go bald in time as the stones drop off, so it looks worse as time goes on. Any blown areas and patches are difficult to repair as they always seems to show up. Difficult to paint to cover up so best left. 
Has the same issues as render with any cracks trapping moisture behind them.

Then there are different types (styles) of pebbledash. Some use small <6mm stone chips, others are 10-14mm pebbles. Whilst the larger stuff is easier to paint over, in time it can look scruffy. I have the larger pebbledash on the upper half of my house. Over the last ~90 years, some of it has blown (mainly the outer layer), pebbles have dropped out, and been roughly patched in other areas. Taking it back to bare brick is not an option - The underlying bricks are rough as hell, and the base coat is well stuck in the few areas that I have tried to chip off. Fortunately, the top coat containing the pebbles is fairly soft and comes off with the aid of an air hammer/chisel. A dirty & very messy job, but once off, a thin coat render gives a nice smooth finish. Just waiting for scaffold to go up and I can do the parts that I can't get to from a tower.

As for the render affecting the house price - If it is looking tatty, yes. If it is covering a non-standard build, then the type of construction will have a bigger bearing on the value.

jimbog

Bio23 said:

Hello All
Gd morning. I need your advice.  I am in the process of buying a house.  The exterior of the house that I just viewed yesterday is pebbledash.  I read somewhere that brick houses are better than pebbledash.  I was even told that pebbledash houses should be cheaper than brick houses. Few (about 30%) of the houses on the same street are pebbledash while the rest are brick. I will prefer brick but cant get any within my budget at the moment. 
My questions are as follows
1) what sort of problems are associated with pebbledash houses. 
2) Should the price be lesser that the a brick house on the same street ?
3) Supposing I buy the house, will the bank take into consideration the pebbledash during the valuation?
Thanks 

Want to post a rightmove link?

RelievedSheff

We actively avoided houses with render or pebbledash when we were looking. We didn't want the extra maintenance involved.

I doubt we are alone in that.

AdrianC

What extra maintenance?

Painting it every decade or so?