I might have posted about this a while ago, but my terrace house was rendered front and back at some point with ****ty cement render probably 20 years ago or more.

Over the years small cracks have developed in the render particularly around the windows. It doesn't look all that bad but it's not ideal since it allows a little damp in especially under the windows.

I can see the render has been repainted at least once and some effort was made to fill in some of the cracks, but these were just temporary repairs.

My surveyor said the options were a) take all the render off, then re-render with lime based or some more modern render (not cement!), b) take the render off and restore/return to original bricks.

He said there is no way to know how the brick will look until the render is removed. It might look fine, it might look bad. If the brick is poor aesthetically then you have to put render back on to cover it up.

Option C he said was to fill cracks, paint over, and do this ad infinitum since the cracks will reappear.

Anyone got any experience with this? If the bricks don't look great can masonary paint do a reasonable job of making the wall look respectable? I'm not talking about 'rotten' bricks (no reason to believe bricks are that bad mind), just ones scuffed and marked by the chisel or hammer drill they used to remove the render, although I know sandblasting can clean them up a bit.

I know it's possible that walls were originally rendered because of a damp problem, but some terraces on the same row aren't rendered and they show no significant damp problems around the window.

Now while I was thinking about this I discovered building regs say that if you:

Which presumably means if I rerender then I'm forced to add ugly as **** thermal cladding to the front and rear? It's a solid wall BTW, no cavity.

But it would imply that if I just take the render off and return to brick then I don't?

Anyone got any idea how strictly this reg would be enforced? It seems utter madness. Can you just play dumb and ignore it unless they catch you? Can they force you to add the insulation years after completion of the rerender?

 

Whoose regulation is this , governing what ?

 

It doesn't mean cladding mate, it's literally insulation screwed to the brickwork then rendered over the top.
the only way you can visually tell is you have deeper reveals around your windows and doors (50mm,70mm,100mm) depending on the thickness of insulation.
It's quite a good system, especially when used with maintenance​ free silicone based render.
Brick magic is also very nice but it's quite expensive

 

Have a look at Renotex website.
They have some good products and you may be able to just use a bonding solution followed by a coat or two of Rollercoat which should renew the look and performance of the render if done correctly.

 

 

It is cladding, that is what it is. I appreciate you think it's good but I don't want it bolted on. The house will look all wrong especially as none of the other terraces on the row have it. Plus I'm too tight to pay for it.

 

ah tight wad eh? Lol i suppose we all have to be when in scooby ownership.
In that case hacking the old stuff off and renew should fall under permitted development unless it's listed or had development rights removed in your area.

Just go for it and plead P/d if anyone asks

 

Are you intending to live here for the forseable future? If so then do it properly so you do it once. I've seen so many people do bodge jobs over and over again as a stop gap, makes far more sense to spend a bit extra now and get it sorted.

As its a terraced house we are only talking about the front and rear walls so it won't cost that much.

As for the BR rules...the same applies to the internal face of the wall. In almost every refurb I've done I've stripped all the walls back to brick so the BR rules would have applied. I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that I did not notify BR.

Obviously being on the inside of the property its not so obvious. I did call BR around to inspect beams etc but always before or after I did the walls.

You should try and get the whole job done quickly perhaps even over a weekend. So on the remote chance that somebody dobbed you in there is no proof of how much was removed by the time an inspector comes...unless you leave it as brick that is.

Also iirc there are other ways to offset the thermal requirements. In other words you show that you have undertaken other steps to increase the overall thermal efficiency of the house eg put insulation in the loft, change single glazed to double glazing etc etc. I've done these things in my refurbs so tbh the overall thermal efficiency of the house was probably far more improved than if I had just added insulation to the walls

Anyway, good luck with it.

 

Why not just see if it needs silicone around all the windows and sills. It would have to be a direct water fall on a crack for it to penetrate and I don't think rain would do that. I'm guessing there is gaps around the window sides and under the sill where rain is falling off the window sill.


I would start that way before worrying about ripping render off. I got my windows and doors done recently by one of the contractors who does it for Persimmon homes and he only charged me £80

 

Ding do you know what powers regs would have if they showed up after completion or during? Back to brick would probably beg question of how regs would know the render was removed. There's certainly no paperwork to show the building was ever rendered per se, only google maps

 

The surveyor said it's the render cracks. The house isn't noticeably damp per se but around the windows shows damp with the damp meter thingy.

Any small amount of water the seeps into the cracks can't easily dry out because the render is impermeable.

 

Unleaa the cracks are over an inch wide and right kn the window sides i wojld say your surveyor is wrong. If rain is getting in on the widows is 100% the seal around the window and sill isnt right. Also is it damp or condensation? Damp curves where as condensation arks.

 

Nah the cracks aren't that wide lol but there are quite a few. Possibly the seal could be done again as you suggest, and the damp is so bad you can actually see it like that. It's not a major issue but does look a bit crap as well.

 

only way to to do it . . .





Vera Duckworth style lol

 

I can't answer that question with 100 % certainty I'm afraid. You can ring your local BR dept confidentially and ask, you don't have to give your name or address. Put the different scenarios to them and be frank, they don't know who you are.
I think the worst case scenario is that they would ask you to take other thermal efficiency measures as I mentioned ie insulate the loft etc.

However Steve talks a lot of sense. My experience has been that the so called professional surveyor has got the cause of damp incorrect 100% of the time. It's always turned out to be something minor like broken guttering, poor seal, ground level over built above dpc, window sill without correct slope etc.

The chartered surveyor has always blamed a bit ticket item ie the dpc has 'failed' or the roof is buggered. I sometimes wonder if they are in cahoots with the companies that then offer to inject chemical dpc for £5k +

Anyway, I digress, but look for other causes of the damp first, it could very likely be something very simple. Or as Steve also points out it might be condensation.

 

Have you not thought of Renting somewhere and letting someone else take the strain..?
Worth a thought...!
No more house repair problems....!

 

lol £750 a month to be anally raped every day isn't a bargain.

 

I had the whole rear wall on my last house rendered to hide some old brickwork and damp proof the rear of the house. It was good and it worked. I also treated the whole thing after it was rendered a painted it.


My 2 pence worth is to use a flexible sealer in the cracks that fill any joints, re-seal all the windows then PVA glue wash the whole thing to make sure it's sealed. After that you can paint it with a good external grade render paint.


Job done.

 

We've got some kind artex which isn't artex sprayed onto the bricks , seems a decent cheap alternative.
The other buidings around here which don't have covering have had their mortar variously carved away by the strong south westerly wind/rain/salt - we live 100 yards off the beach .
There is nearly always scaffolding up in the vicinity for larger buildings mortar grinding out /replacing . Except now they've , apparently , just discovered cladding with ferro cement barge boards is the way to go ( have customer with guest house up the road who sprouted it and the price seemed reasonable with a guarantee longer than he was going to live for)

 

I don't think anything needs spraying onto bricks unless they are unsightly (i.e, replaced bricks which don't match etc).

Around my way I have seen some freshly rendered houses and they look good. The render looks more like some modern polymer than the older cement and sand renders, appears more flexible. Having said that one refurbished house which was done within last 1 to 3 years has massive cracks in the 'new' render. The owners must be pissed.

But to be honest I'm happy with bricks even if they need pointing every few years.

The render can look good but it's very all or nothing. Do anything with windows, sills, air bricks, even door frames, then you ruin the render and possibly have to re-do it.

 

Cracks could be wall tie related, especially if they are around the Windows, ties every 3 courses of brick up the reveals.