Uneven shade Render should I accept work(pics included)

[MoonBase1]

I have had the rendering done a some new dormer windows and to my inexperienced eye it looks like a load of rubbish job with uneven colour/shade to the render. It was the second set of dormers that they had rendered for me and it was in the warm snap that we had in April 2011. The first set has small cracks in it and I wonder if the reason it looks like this is because they perhaps overloaded the mix with plasticiser or something like that to combat the cracks that happened on the previous dormers. Would you accept work that looked like this 4 weeks after the work was done?

PS pics to follow when I get home in 30 mins

Here is a pic

Untitled

• MoonBase1
• 18 May 2011
• 1

 

[MoonBase1]

Hello again,

Here is anther picture.

Untitled

• MoonBase1
• 18 May 2011
• 1

 

[trowelmonkey1]

well i suspect you've gt a case fpr getting them to re-do it at least, if there were no cracks and you were painting it i'd say don't worry about it but if you're not painting it the the uneven colour is ugly, why this is i don't know, when in April was it done? could it still be drying out do you think or are those patches stable?

regardless to this, cracks aren't good on new work, cold be caused by many things though and impossible to say what, hot weather, too much water in the mix causing excessive shrinkage, un washed sand having too many impurities, un sound substrate, difficult ground your on but when all is said and done you shouldn't have cracks, can't see them on the pics though.

 

[roy c]

It looks like they have been caught out with the top coat drying out too quickly and they have thrown water at it when rubbing up and in places there has been too much water and it has weakened the mix in places and caused the "blotchy " effect. Also this is indicated by you saying that there were cracks in their work, if there are cracks then the job has not been done properly and I think you are well in rights to have it done again. If you are painting it or not doesn't hide the fact that if you dont want it painted then it looks a "mess" and the frost will blow it off in the winter....

 

[MoonBase1]

Thank you everyone for your input. I really do appreciate it. It has been a real nightmare the rendering on the dormer windows.

First I got a plasterer to render a bunch of the windows, It was unbelievably bad, huge cracks and he made a total mess of the roof the tiles now have render all over them and look a right mess, because they are textured I can't really scrape the render off because it will take the sand texture off the tiles.

I got him to redo the job and it was better but still awful with cracks all over it. He also made a right mess of the finished windows. He then gave up a didn't want to continue with the job because he wasn't up to the job.

I got other plasterers in to do the rest of the dormers, They did three to start with, small cracks in the finish but at least they couldn't be seen from the ground and the colour was consistent.

I then got them to do the two dormers shown above which look awful from the ground but don't have cracks.

I expected the finish to dry and even out over time but 3-4 weeks later they look as shown in the photos above, awful.

Today I had they come to site to discuss the job, I said it looks awful, they said "its a natural material so you should expect variation in the finish and that they see nothing wrong with the job" They said that if I asked a building inspector they would agree with them and say that the job is fine.

I've been looking around and I see plenty of natural finish render that looks nothing like this job. They said it must be painted and I just can't tell that its painted. They then started picking holes in the previous job which I agree is crap. Saying that their work looks better than the previous work, which in my book is debatable. Its all crap and I need this finished and my scaffold down which I'm paying for.


I'll post a few more picture tomorrow of the first job.

Do you think I should tell them to sling there hooks and not pay them and get someone else to do it or give them a chance to do it again if they will or even just pay them and paint it?

Again, I really appreciate all the input on this.

 

[Agile]

I assume thats plain cement render.

I cannot comment on the blotches but I do know that drying/weathering can sometimes take several months from new.

What does surprise me is that you dont want to paint the render.

Whenever I see unpainted render I always wonder iof the owner is very mean indeed!

Why dont you want to paint it? Then you will be assured of a consistent colour and better waterproofing.

Tony

 

[joe-90]

I agree with tony. It simply looks damp to me.

 

[Destroy1tYourself]

if its got cracks in it get them to redo it

if its hollow get them to redo it

otherwise pick yourself some nice paint and make the most out of the scaffold

 

[joe-90]

Did they hose it down before rendering it? If so it may take months to fully dry (like a flooded house).

 

[MoonBase1]

Hello everyone,

The reason I don't want to paint it is that I like the look of 'natural render and think it goes really well with the cotswold natural stone walls.

As the stones said 'you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just get what you need'

I have now painted it a colour as close to the natural render as I can. It looks ok but not as good as the natural finish I had on the non blotchy render but it'll do and mean I can get my scaffold down.

They did hose it down before rendering it ... I hope the paint hasn't permanently locked the moisture in.

Again I thank everyone for their input on this, I think we have a reasonable solution now and at last I can get the scaffold down.....

 

[Micilin]

Every time you touch the render before it sets it changes colour(same applies to monocouche etc) . Those marks may be where it was touched up or gone over while at a different stage of drying.

Unless the render is waterproof, rain will always affect the shading as the varying thickness will soak and dry differently.

As long as it is sound I would not worry. Render is meant to be painted and unless it is guaged properly with uniform thickness and application will shade.

 

[grandwizard]

did they let the scratch coat cure properly if not u will get cracking in top coat using weber ocr would give a better job it looks like they dont know how to gauge properly