Rendering in Blandford Forum

Silicone thin coat is the system most people mean when they say render. A primer, a polymer basecoat with a glass fibre mesh bedded into it, then a through-coloured silicone topcoat floated to a scraped texture. It moves a little, sheds water and holds its colour, and it suits the 1970s and 1980s blockwork that makes up most of the newer housing here. Beads and stop ends at every opening, a bellcast at the base so water drips clear.

Monocouche. One through-coloured coat put on thick and scraped back the next day. Quick on a plain elevation and hard wearing, but unforgiving of a poor background. We would not put it on a wall that has already been patched a dozen times.

Sand and cement, pebbledash and Tyrolean. A scratch coat, a float coat, then either a smooth finish, a dry dash thrown on while it is green, or a Tyrolean flicked on. Plenty of the post-war houses in Blandford Forum carry one of these, and matching an existing dash is a question of aggregate size and colour. We make up a sample panel first.

Lime render. On a solid Blandford Forum wall built before 1919, period brick or a rubble core, the coat has to be softer than the wall behind it and it has to be breathable. That means lime, in two or three coats, hair gauged in the base. Put a hard cement or a plastic rich acrylic on a wall like that and trapped moisture goes inwards instead, and the wall stays damp behind a face that looks perfect.

Hacking off, and the tapping that comes first. Blown render has parted from its background. We tap the whole Blandford Forum elevation and mark every hollow area, because that decides whether you are patching, overlaying or taking the lot off. Past about a third of a wall, patching is money spent twice.

Cracks, delamination and staining. A hairline map of crazing is shrinkage and cosmetic. A crack you can get a coin into is movement or a failed bead, and wants opening up and reinforcing rather than filling. Algae and the green and black staining on a shaded wall come off with a soft wash.

Render over external wall insulation. Insulation board fixed to the wall as a render carrier, then the same mesh, basecoat and topcoat on top. It is the one render job that changes the thermal performance of the house, and as part of a wider renovation Approved Document L sets what the wall is expected to reach. On a solid breathable wall we say honestly that it is the wrong house for it.

Measuring the wall is simple. Pricing it depends on what is on it now. What has to come off. Any render that has come away from the brick, whether sand and cement or pebbledash, is stripped, and tapping across the whole elevation shows how much. Those hollow patches drive the labour.

Choosing a system. Silicone thin coat on insulation, through-coloured monocouche and plain sand and cement are three different prices. An old solid wall that has to breathe usually wants lime, and a plastic-rich finish on it will trap damp.

Cavity or solid. An estate house with cavity walls can take a modern system. A Georgian front in the centre is solid brick and needs a different approach.

Edges and openings. Render fails first at its edges, so the bellcast over the damp course, the beads, the stop ends and the sills all need time and care.

How long the scaffold stays. Curing time between coats keeps the scaffold up longer than on most building work, and the work at height rules make that a priced line.

Get any rival quoting on a Blandford Forum house to state the system and number of coats, whether the old render is stripped or covered, whether the bellcast and every bead and stop end are costed, and how the sills and pipes will be dealt with.

The town centre is the reason. Blandford burned in 1731 and was rebuilt in brick over the following thirty years, which is why so much of the older housing has a face brick front with gauged arches and rubbed brick at the openings.

The Blandford Forum fronts were built to be seen and to weather. Rendering over one hides the detail, and because the brick is soft and the joints are lime, a modern cement or acrylic coat holds water in the wall instead of letting it out. The damage shows years later, and on the inside.

It is a planning matter as well as a building one. Inside a conservation area a like for like repair to an existing finish needs nothing, but putting a new material on a street elevation is a change of appearance and gets asked about. None of that stops the work most people actually want. Side and rear walls, garden walls, rendered later additions and anything already carrying a sand and cement coat are ordinary rendering jobs in Blandford Forum.

Rendering jobs in Blandford Forum are 16.8 miles from our Boscombe base. We also render in Blandford St Mary, Bryanston, Pimperne and the Winterbornes, and every one of them falls to Dorset Council for planning and building control.

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719. Thomas Hannen is the owner. He taps your wall, chooses the system and prices it, all himself. On Checkatrade our rating from a verified customer is 10 out of 10. The visit carries no fee, and the itemised quote in writing is free as well. Before you book a visit in Blandford Forum, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Blandford Forum need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.