Any advice on Masonary Paint?!?!?

[Leadhillite]

I live in a village 1500' above sea level, (so we're sometimes above cloud level and occassionally IN cloud level), in a 250+ year old cottage.

The lime pointed walls have long since been rendered with concrete render and it hasn't presented any problems.

My problem is my gable wall. The render there is rock solid and fully adhered to the wall. It gets blasted to hell and back again by the wind and the rain. 2 years ago I used a breathable waterproofer on the gable wall, (Echochem if I remember correctly), then put about 3 coats of Homebase Silicone enhanced breathable waterproof paint on it. Last year I put at least another 2 coats on the wall.

But already, bits of the paint are starting to flake off now, so its going to need done again this year!

Any advice on what I should use?!?!?

Been reading about "Pliolite Masonary Paint", but I'm wary of this, as I've never seen it in a DIY store and its not universally praised by the pros. on this site.

Also, whats the paint that the specialists use - the ones that do all your render repairs, then paint, and give a 25 year guarantee? Is it worth going down that route? (One of the local houses had that done about 12 years ago.....the company used their house on their advertising leaflets....and they are back at the house every 2 or 3 years redoing the work!!!)

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[oldgreymouse]

It sounds like you have all the problems an exterior paint has to deal with and more!!!
Without a doubt, we are all mislead with how good an exterior paint will stand up to the lashings of rain and snow that get thrown at it.
In all my years of painting It is rare to go back to a job a couple of years later and not find some part of the paintwork defective, it may not be an all over problem but just here and there.

A lot of problems arise simply because of either the wrong paint, or a poor substrata.
It is a well known fact that stone, brick and yes even cement render, like to breathe. The moisture must be able to wick away and an exterior paint that will help do this is always best. Anything that seals everything in will fail eventually.
It may be worth your while looking up paint by a company, 'keim' Not sure where they work from but I know the big commercials use them. I have used some of their paint in the past and it was good stuff with plenty of pigment in the colour. It was exterior too!!