Removing Cement Render from Stone Building

[MTBHuw]

Hi. First post here. We live in an old ca. 1860s stone house which has painted cement render. Whilst there's nothing really wrong with it apart from needing painting, we've been toying with the idea with removing it to expose the stonework.

There is an unrendered section of wall to the side of the house and the stonework is a mixture of all sorts and sizes of local stone and I'm assuming this is the case all around the house.

Our thinking is to remove the render and as the stonework isn't the best, to paint it to give a painted stone look. This has been done on a few other similar cottages in our area.

I doubt the house would have been rendered originally as it's modern-ish looking and cement, but are we likely to cause any damage or affect the integrity of the stonework underneath by removing it? Or could we actually help it? There are several internal damp patches inside the house, could removing the render help the house "breath".

Lots of questions sorry but any advice welcome.

 

[roy c]

Some old house's where built with rough old stone work ,knowing it was going to be rendered, some builders took more time and others " lashed "them up depending on the stone used. So you may knock it off and it will look good pointed, or it may look like "she height" ,Also it may depend on the stone used wether it is porous or not !! So get a local mason around with local knowledge who knows the history of the buildings around the area to tell you wether pointing or rendering is best..

 

[ree]

Retro rendering was probably applied to cover some kind of difficulty. Or perhaps to give a little more protection from the elements, or even to act as a kind of insulation. Do any similar neighbour's houses have render? If so, talk to them.

There's always a risk in removing render that you will pull off some stonework.

Do not paint the stonework - any stonework.

If you want advice ref. the damp patches then post pics of the exterior, and the interior damp patches.