Rendering Raised Flower Beds

[SrHShane]

Hi,
I'm hoping you guys can help me with some advice on products to use and where to start.

I've built a raised flower bed out of 7.3N Concrete Blocks in my garden, and I'm now at the stage where I want to render it. I'm a total beginner with all this stuff and learning as I go. I'm sure you will advise me to get somebody professional in to do the job, but I'm looking to keep costs down.

I'm just looking at some advice on where to go next. From what i've read, I believe I need to apply Bitumen inside the flower beds to protect the outside render?

The pictures below are 1) My original plan (the middle part will be a water feature) and 2) Where I'm at now (the built wall)

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

 

[bobasd]

well done, that will do the job fine.

fix some level stop beading as a bottom stop line.
wash down all your exposed blockwork with two coats of SBR - one to dry the next to go tacky.
then render with a sand and cement mix 3:1 or 4:1

you could simply apply a waterproofing SBR inside the beds as well as outside but only if it wont contaminate your soil?
any render in your beds will eventually blow off but you might get a few years out of it.

 

[23vc]

any render in your beds will eventually blow off but you might get a few years out of it.

Yep, the issue with these is they look great when you first do it, but we don’t live in the Med.
I did one about 8 years ago, render is sound, but it’s the paint that ends up looking a bit cr@p after a while

 

[SrHShane]

well done, that will do the job fine.

fix some level stop beading as a bottom stop line.
wash down all your exposed blockwork with two coats of SBR - one to dry the next to go tacky.
then render with a sand and cement mix 3:1 or 4:1

you could simply apply a waterproofing SBR inside the beds as well as outside but only if it wont contaminate your soil?
any render in your beds will eventually blow off but you might get a few years out of it.

Thanks for the advice bob!

Would you bead all the way round?

To be honest, I wont be growing any veg in the beds - this is all for a bit of a nice look. I'm not sure if my plan picture came through?

I've been looking at Pond Paint or Bitumen for the inside of the beds. Do you think that would do the trick?

Yep, the issue with these is they look great when you first do it, but we don’t live in the Med.
I did one about 8 years ago, render is sound, but it’s the paint that ends up looking a bit cr@p after a while

Sadly we don't haha.

I've been looking at k-rend which apparently is a coloured finish? Depending how that comes out, I may not need to paint. I guess a touch up of paint every few years isn't as bad as having to re-rend every couple of years!


I'm thinking my next steps need to be -
1) Apply bitumen/pond paint to the inside of beds up to around 5cm from top (to allow for a top border of rend on the inside)
2) Apply the level beads around all areas which will be rendered
3) Apply SBR around the bricks which will be rendered
4) Do the first coat of rend
5) Final coat of rend

Does that sound right?

Thank you so much for the help your giving guys. I'm very much a beginner here but I still want it to turn out okay!

 

[23vc]

Seeing as you’ve put so much effort into the block work I’d take some time to make sure you really know what you’re doing with the rendering. Mixes, thickness of scratch/top coat, waterproofer, etc. Loads of posts on here about it. Get all your beads fixed correctly. Have you done any kind of plastering before?
Ive never used k rend so can’t comment on whether it’s going to be a better bet, it the technique is different to S&C so research required.

 

[Alastairreid]

Line the inside with a heavy duty polythene and bead all the corners fo nice sharp lines.
White K rend render coat will do the job.

 

[meera1]

Hi,
I'm hoping you guys can help me with some advice on products to use and where to start.

I've built a raised flower bed out of 7.3N Concrete Blocks in my garden, and I'm now at the stage where I want to render it. I'm a total beginner with all this stuff and learning as I go. I'm sure you will advise me to get somebody professional in to do the job, but I'm looking to keep costs down.

I'm just looking at some advice on where to go next. From what i've read, I believe I need to apply Bitumen inside the flower beds to protect the outside render?

The pictures below are 1) My original plan (the middle part will be a water feature) and 2) Where I'm at now (the built wall)

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

hello, this looks amazing!
can you tell me what programme you used to design your landscape. im looking to do the same raised bed design to surround a patio. but really struggling to find something to help me design it. would love to see how your design ended up in the end!