render blown/extensive cracking

[silverfox2]

Hi all wonder if anyone can help me with a problem i have .

In 2006 i had my house rendered after a large extension the builder did the rendering and i painted it it was completed in august 2006 and i after asking the builder how long i should leave before painting painted end of september.

The following year the render started to crack and has progresivelly got worse with big chunks falling off .

After many phone calls to my builder he eventually came to veiw in august 2008 took a sample and had it analysed this aparently came back as inconclusive .He agreed that he would come spring of 2009 and redo the job he did not turn up until the second week in july stripped it all off the front of the house and duly disapeared.

I had a phone call to say he was having a second analasye done to make sure he did the job properly and to see that what ever the problem was he did not repeat it .

At the beggining of august 2009 i rang him to ask when he would be starting the job and he said as soon as there was a reasonable weather forecast he would start ,this week beggining the 10th the weather is forecast to be good i rang to ask when he would be starting he then tells me he is sending an expert to explain to me how it was the paint that caused the failure of the render and it was not his responsibility to put it right.

Now i have a dillema, i can find no instances of paint causing the failure of outside render in this way i followed the instructions on the cans of paint in applying it it was a waterbased paint and it was wickes masonary paint.

I would be interested if anyone out there had ever had render fail in this way and what were the causes .
Obviouslly i am livid that he should wait so long to now tell me he is not going to do it and i have wasted a lot of time and money on this .

So if anyone can help i would be grateful for thier advice.

Phillip

 

[roughcaster]

I have "never" heard of a coat of masonary paint, (water based or otherwise) being applied to new render,,, causing the new render to progressively crack and fall off in big chunks. It would probably have more to do the render itself,,, the mix,,,or the substrate etc it was coated onto!!! Did you see the results of the sample he had analysed? Did he "really" get the sample analysed? Did his expert ever turn up to explain to you, how a coat of paint caused your render to fail and fall off? What was the render applied to, bricks/blocks? Was it re-rendered over old original render? So many questions here. Funny how the builder disappeared, after removing all evidence of the the failed render. Tell us more!!!

Roughcaster.

 

[silverfox2]

I have "never" heard of a coat of masonary paint, (water based or otherwise) applied to new render,,, causing the new render to progressively crack and fall off in big chunks. It would probably have more to do the render itself,,, the mix,,,or the substrate etc it was coated onto!!! Did you see the results of the sample he had analysed? Did he "really" get the sample analysed? Did his expert ever turn up to explain to you, how a coat of paint caused your render to fail and fall off? What was the render applied to, bricks/blocks? Was it re-rendered over old original render? Funny how he disappeared, after removing all evidence of the the failed render. So many questions here... Tell us more!!!

Roughcaster.

I have since had some one else a company reccomended to we by a builder friend give me a new quote for putting it right and also do a report on what was wrong with this render ,i have spoken to him briefly and the guy who origanally did the render has commited so many errors in applying this render that his 30 years of experience must be littered with bad jobs.

When i get the report i will list all his errors on here.

I do not believe he has ever had any of his samples analysed ,this was just a stalling tactic ,i do not expect to see his expert either as even he would have difficulty explaining the state of this render .

I think i can safely say it is certainlly not the paint that has any thing to do with the state of this render,his theory is that i painted this render while there was still moisture in it and the moisture has penetrated to the wall and caused the render to blow.well i painted this render 4 to six weeks after he had finished as instructed by him and that is enough time for any render to dry .

But what to do now i have paid £2750 and two years later have got to pay to have it all done again ,to top it all his was not the cheapest quote!.
He came reccomended by a neighbour who had had work done by him not rendering by the way ,and this was completely satisfactory.

I will either have to pursue him thru the courts or wave goodbye to my money .

Phillip

 

[silverfox2]

Roughcaster ,
This was apllied to breeze block new build and brickwork that had all the old render removed.

He has only cleared the render from one wall there is another 2 walls to remove .

phillip

 

[roughcaster]

Thanks for all that Silverfox. Back after dinner,,, i've got me orders from the wife.

Roughcaster.

 

[Micilin]

Also, while RC has his spuds, was the other work he did plastering work?

 

[NickB_99]

I do not believe he has ever had any of his samples analysed ,this was just a stalling tactic ,i do not expect to see his expert either as even he would have difficulty explaining the state of this render .

But what to do now i have paid £2750 and two years later have got to pay to have it all done again ,to top it all his was not the cheapest quote!.

He came reccomended by a neighbour who had had work done by him not rendering by the way ,and this was completely satisfactory.

I will either have to pursue him thru the courts or wave goodbye to my money .

Any chance trading standards or any of the regulatory bodies help? Does he claim to be a member of the FMB for example?

If he came from a recommendation, he may value his local reputation... Maybe I'm naive!

I would have thought court was definitely a last resort though!

Good luck.

 

[silverfox2]

Also, while RC has his spuds, was the other work he did plastering work?

Sorry it has took me so long to reply.
The work he did for a neighbour was an extension ,and yes he made a good job of it ,so i had no reason to doudt he would not do the same for me .

phillip

 

[silverfox2]

I do not believe he has ever had any of his samples analysed ,this was just a stalling tactic ,i do not expect to see his expert either as even he would have difficulty explaining the state of this render .

But what to do now i have paid £2750 and two years later have got to pay to have it all done again ,to top it all his was not the cheapest quote!.

He came reccomended by a neighbour who had had work done by him not rendering by the way ,and this was completely satisfactory.

I will either have to pursue him thru the courts or wave goodbye to my money .

Any chance trading standards or any of the regulatory bodies help? Does he claim to be a member of the FMB for example?

If he came from a recommendation, he may value his local reputation... Maybe I'm naive!

I would have thought court was definitely a last resort though!

Good luck.

Newbee
I am sure he does value his reputation ,the problem is he does not want to comunicate with me i have been extremley reasonable and have always been polite and patient ,in fact probablly too patient .

It is very dificult to talk to someone who ignores you ,the only way i can ring him is if i use a number he does not know then he will pick up otherwise i can leave him a dozen messages and he will not reply .
He leaves me no alternative other than to give him a date by which he must finish this work to a satisfactory quality or threaten legal action after all he has kept me waiting 12 months and now is trying to tell me it is all my fault after agreeing to redo his handiwork.

I managed to get a commitment from him to start in August to rectify his work and to date nothing has happened .

His expert by the way is now coming to see me on friday evening ?i shall keep you all posted .

 

[roughcaster]

Thanks for the extra info S/fox,, i think Trading Standards as Newbee said would jolt him to respond. He's probably not got the guts to admit the problem might be his fault. Get T/S involved anyway, and they'll hopefully move things on for you. Let us know how you get on with the "expert" on Friday.

Roughcaster.

 

[joe-90]

I'm pretty certain what went wrong. The guy didn't sort out the suction on the blocks and they just sucked all the moisture out of his mix so that what was left had no adhesion. It literally went off next to the blocks rather than in contact with them.

 

[silverfox2]

I'm pretty certain what went wrong. The guy didn't sort out the suction on the blocks and they just sucked all the moisture out of his mix so that what was left had no adhesion. It literally went off next to the blocks rather than in contact with them.

Roughcaster/Joe

The "Expert" came last night 12/08 and very nice chap he was, went thru all the theory of how damp attacks buildings and how cavity walls can hide so much and can be dripping with damp that does not show its self.

Walked all round my house, telling me the pointing in the brickwork pointed to damp problems ,and how when i painted the render i had trapped this moisture in and therefore it had caused the problem with the render?.

Well the flaw in what he was saying is that i have three walls rendered but only one wall has a cavity and that wall has retained the render better than the other two and my house is not in any way damp?.

And as for the pointing in the brickwork it is poor ,but that is because the previous owner had a very bad pointing job done ,and it is on my list to do ,now i am not an expert but i did not believe a word of what he said and i did not agree with him.

My stance is this if what has happened to this render is because of something i have done he should have told me 18 months ago not wait until the apointed time that he agreed to redo his work and then start argueing it was not his fault.

I will post some pictures on here as soon as i can .

But thanks to all who have taken the time to reply.

phil