I’ve not found a definitive answer to my questions through my usual lurking so I’m posting this up.
Just in the process of moving house in to a 4 bed semi in Gloucestershire. The place we’re moving to needs some re-rending work. The render to the side and back of the house are cracked and blown. On the side, (gable end c75sq M), there is cracking along two brick string courses at about ground floor celling height and first floor celling height. The back of the house is cracked all over and sounds hollow in places. I’ve not got the measurements for the back, but I’ll try to get them and update this thread when I do. The front of the house is natural stone which is in good condition
We’ve been told that “pit sand” has been used which wasn’t the correct sand for the job. The house has been looked at by a structural engineer (as there is some cracking inside too) and we’re assured that the only movement is natural movement in the property ie settlement from when it was built. It’s 25-30yrs old.
So far I’ve had 2 quotes and my questions really are as follows;
• What is the best course of action to fix this? By best I mean most cost effective in the long run (10+ years). One quote has been to remove all of the lose render only, fix wire mesh to all surfaces, and then re-render everything. Wire mesh would be needed as the render won’t bond to the remaining painted sections. The second person suggested removing all render (lose on not), that wire mesh wasn’t needed, and that all surfaces would then be re-rendered. Both were going to use sand/cement.
• How much should this cost? Both quotes so far are approaching £6k including the scaffold, skip and VAT which I thought were a little high.
• I was planning to have this work done after new windows are fitted, to ensure all reveals are rendered correctly. Is this right?
My other thoughts are that wire mesh will add to the cost for the extra material, and again for the labour to fix it although it may make hacking off a little quicker. It could also potentially leave old render behind the new, which may have some moisture in it which could then potentially fail in the future.
Could taking off all of the render including the good stuff could damage the external skin of brick/block or lintels around windows etc.
I’d appreciate some sound advice from those with experience as I’m not sure of the best way forward here.
Just in the process of moving house in to a 4 bed semi in Gloucestershire. The place we’re moving to needs some re-rending work. The render to the side and back of the house are cracked and blown. On the side, (gable end c75sq M), there is cracking along two brick string courses at about ground floor celling height and first floor celling height. The back of the house is cracked all over and sounds hollow in places. I’ve not got the measurements for the back, but I’ll try to get them and update this thread when I do. The front of the house is natural stone which is in good condition
We’ve been told that “pit sand” has been used which wasn’t the correct sand for the job. The house has been looked at by a structural engineer (as there is some cracking inside too) and we’re assured that the only movement is natural movement in the property ie settlement from when it was built. It’s 25-30yrs old.
So far I’ve had 2 quotes and my questions really are as follows;
• What is the best course of action to fix this? By best I mean most cost effective in the long run (10+ years). One quote has been to remove all of the lose render only, fix wire mesh to all surfaces, and then re-render everything. Wire mesh would be needed as the render won’t bond to the remaining painted sections. The second person suggested removing all render (lose on not), that wire mesh wasn’t needed, and that all surfaces would then be re-rendered. Both were going to use sand/cement.
• How much should this cost? Both quotes so far are approaching £6k including the scaffold, skip and VAT which I thought were a little high.
• I was planning to have this work done after new windows are fitted, to ensure all reveals are rendered correctly. Is this right?
My other thoughts are that wire mesh will add to the cost for the extra material, and again for the labour to fix it although it may make hacking off a little quicker. It could also potentially leave old render behind the new, which may have some moisture in it which could then potentially fail in the future.
Could taking off all of the render including the good stuff could damage the external skin of brick/block or lintels around windows etc.
I’d appreciate some sound advice from those with experience as I’m not sure of the best way forward here.
