i am going to render some retaining concrete block walls in my garden and want them to be white. Will snowcrete, lime and plastering sand give me a bright white finish? Any advice?
You can get white sand , it will be fine - but you will have to sponge it after floating it from one end or top to bottom .Don't go back and do a patch here or there as it will dry out a slightly different shade.
It will come up nice, same as using white sand/white cement/lime for dry dashing.
The only problem with a retaining wall is that if there is no dpm the other side you can get a lot of wet and salts through, and sometimes some red oxides which don't look good.
I would use a good waterproof scratch coat (this would not have to be white as long as you keep it flat and cut back beads) to help stop the salts etc coming thru
Most coloured renders now are the monocouche types, Ivory more than white usually.
Thanks micilin, i find i have to be careful not to add too much waterproofer to the scratch because it can leave the top coat with no suction. I've had water traveling to the bottom of the wall and washing away the bottom of the render before. Disaster! Now I tend to save most of the waterproofer for the top coat. Any comment?
I don't concur , it's just another thing to use where needed. It depends on the background, the conditions and the application!
A 40m gable end in summer ? A smart spread will use w/p in teh scratch.
A big house to s/c to float? W/p in the stuff will let you float for days and then go back and skim the lot -much more efficient than float/set float /set and having float just what you want to skim. It also lets you float all the walls before skimming ceilings.
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