Replacing external render

Hi All.

My next job on the house is to remove the old exterior render on the side of the house. I am happy doing this with a small sds drill and hammer and chisel, but I am concerned about leaving the wall exposed until I get a builder to re-render it. It is an old house approximately 150 years old and the walls are solid. I reckon it will need to be left exposed for a couple of weeks. Am I worrying about nothing or should I try and get a builder in sooner?

I wouldn't hack it all off till it can be rendered, especially with this weather we are having. If it is an old stone wall with sand and lime mortar in the joints then you dont want to leave it open to the elements for to long as the water will expand the the mortar and you will get cracks inside. I have personal experience of this on my own house when I hacked the mortar off and left it for a while before rendering it. But that is another story that I may tell at a later date.

What will you re-render with? Something lime based I hope! Anything containing cement will crack on that wall in time, and let water in...

I won't be re-rendering it personally, but I will check with the builder what he is using. Thanks for your advice. I postponed hacking it off until I could book him in to re-render it. So this weekend I will mostly be up a ladder hacking away at the side of my house. Didn't want to watch the Olympics anyway!