Any experience of 'Corksol' wall covering?

chubsta

We have a mid-terrace and the render, particularly on the rear, is showing signs of age - paint flaking, discoloured,  a few small cracks etc. We would like it to look all lovely and new, in a nice pastel colour, with minimal maintenance required as we get older, improved insulation would be a massive bonus.

We have seen references to Corksol spray on coating, which seems to fit the bill - even Kevin McCloud on Grand designs seems to like it!

Has anyone any experience of having it done, and if so what do they think? Given the current state of the render, particularly in terms of paint peeling and cracks, did the contractors deal with all that themselves prior to application or did you have to get someone else in (with all the added costs of that of course).

Basically, anything you feel we would need to know - the Corksol website has links to approved installers but we live in the far South East and there doesn't seem to be any in our immediate area so before we start dragging people in from afar to give us a quote it would be nice to have at least some idea of the practicalities and costs - it may really be the best solution for us but if it is going to cost more than rebuilding the house then don't want to waste anyone's time, or get our hopes up!

Thanks for any advice!!

FreeBear

First, a couple of questions about the property.

1. Construction - Is is solid brick wall or cavity ?
2. Current render - Cement, K-Rend (or similar), or lime ?

On to Corksol - Take any claims of breathabilty with a large dose of salt. As for their claims of reducing heat loss by up to 30%, I'd call that BS. Yes, cork is a good insulator, and is breathable, but to get any worthwhile level of insulation, it needs to be 50-100mm thick. A thin coat is going to have precious little impact. So don't fall for that claim. Ask for a copy of the report backing up the claim (and send me a copy if you get one please).

Insulating & breathability properties aside, I might consider using the stuff myself if the price is right.

chubsta

Thanks for the reply, it’s solid brick with a smooth render, don’t know much about such things but I’m guessing cement render.

anything other than making it look nice would be a bonus!

FreeBear

chubsta said:

Thanks for the reply, it’s solid brick with a smooth render, don’t know much about such things but I’m guessing cement render.

anything other than making it look nice would be a bonus!

Oh dear. Probably had several coats of Sandtex type masonry paints over the years - That will have wrecked the ability of the wall to breath. Short of hacking it all off (messy, dirty work), which will damage the bricks underneath, not much you can do.

Corksol is one answer, as is K-Rend and other thin coat render systems - But they all depend on the base being free of loose/flaking paint.

chubsta

Yeah, we are looking at a removal of the render as a last resort - to be fair it’s not in bad condition, it’s really just where patches of paint are flaking plus some very small cracks, it’s just the aesthetics and the fact Cornell comes in particular colours.

FreeBear

K-Rend and other thin coat renders also come in a variety of colours. It is also possible to mix pigments/dyes in to cement (and lime) based renders. So you are not limited to just Corksol.

One downside to colouring your own renders is getting a consistent colour match between batches.