External rendering advice (pics included)

[montyJ]

hello all. my first post here.

Hoping to get some advice about rendering on a set of external stairs on my property. I have been filling a gap (that had previously been filled- with expanding foam?!) to try and stop water seeping onto the wall of the property under mine. think it has subsided over time and created this gap between the concrete stairs and the wall.

so far so good, I'm having to effectively extend the stairs to the wall as the gap gets bigger. but I have no clue how to redo the skirt of render that runs all the way down the stairs. it looks in places like water may be getting between the render and the bricks so should i remove all the old stuff (lot more work and worried about what might come off with it) or just go over it a little higher ? and how can i achieve the smooth, even (and level) finish ?







cheers

Monty

 

[montyJ]

no one ?

 

[roughcaster]

It''s not easy to re-render the skirting. Is the skirting itself secure to the wall or does it "sound hollow"all over when you tap it? If it sounds not too bad, i'd leave it, patch in the small gap with a drop of sand and cement, leave it to set and cure, then run a neat bead of silicone all along the top to keep anywater/moisture out. If it is loose all over and ready to fall away from the wall, then the best bet would be to remove it. You could fix a batten to the wall and -render a new skirting but it's a job for somone who know how to do it. Speak to a local plasterer or builder.

 

[roughcaster]

It''s not easy to re-render the skirting. Is the skirting itself secure to the wall or does it "sound hollow"all over when you tap it? If it sounds not too bad, i'd leave it, patch in the small gap with a drop of sand and cement, leave it to set and cure, then run a neat bead of silicone all along the top to keep anywater/moisture out. If it is loose all over and ready to fall away from the wall, then the best bet would be to remove it. You could fix a batten to the wall and -render a new skirting but it's a job for somone who know how to do it. Speak to a local plasterer or builder.

 

[montyJ]

hi. the skirting is secure. in some places there seems to be a small gap where it meets the wall. I have used Skikaflex +11 on the opposite side so could use that to seal any gaps after using cement/sand mix.

towards the bottom of the stairs the skirting has come away so I need to do something... I'd like to attempt the skirting myself (this is a diy forum after all ) also i just don't have budget to pay someone else. I'm curious how they did it. Is it a combination of using battens and a specially cut board? do you think the top edge was finished by hand ?

thanks for the reply

 

[roughcaster]

The top edge would have been formed by the shaped underside of the batten. The batten would have been fixed to the wall at the appropriate height, then the plasterer would have scratched coated the skirting out, around half the thickness. That would have been left to set and cure for a day or two, then the top coat of render would have been put on, to brong it out to the thickness of the batten. This would then be screeded with a small batten to get the skirting vertical. It would then be left a while,then floated over a couple of times. It would have then been finished off with a sponge, or quite often, a trowel to smooth it off. The batten itself would have been left on for a day or two, the once removed, the top edge was fine tuned.Most of the skirting i did was made with a granolithic mix. You don't see this much nowadays, but there will be people out there who have the knowhow.

 

[montyJ]

hmm that does sound quite a process. there are some level parts that need skirting so may try those first, not as complex as the diagonal. If the upper batten was angled to get that shape how would you get the mix to fill it, you have to put it upwards to fill it ?

 

[roughcaster]

That's exactly how you would apply the skirting render,, by putting it on in an upward motion. We put it on at that time with an 11 inch trowel. We also put a small grano cove all around the bottom of the grano skirting,and around the treads and risers of the concrete staircase. Different days then.