Rendering in Branksome
Render repairs and new render systems on Edwardian solid walls, post-war semis and blocks of flats across Branksome and BH12.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Rendering in Branksome is mostly repair and renewal: cracked or blown render on older solid walls, tired panels on post-war semis and blocks, and the occasional house being rendered for the first time. We tap the walls, find what has parted from the background, and match the system to what the wall is built from. For inside walls, see plastering in Branksome.
On a Branksome house the first sign is usually something visible. A crack stepping down from the corner of a window that opens a little wider each winter. A patch that sounds hollow when you knock it, or has already dropped off onto the path. Green staining on a shaded wall down a side passage. Or an owner who wants a tired pebbledash on a 1960s semi taken off and replaced with something cleaner.
We come out, tap every elevation, mark up the hollow areas and look at the beads, the sills and the bottom edge of the coat. Then you get a written itemised quote. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Solid walls, post-war panels and new finishes
Old solid walls. A house built before the First World War usually has solid walls with no cavity, and those walls stay dry by letting moisture out through their face. Where one of them has been rendered in hard sand and cement, the render cracks, water gets in behind it and cannot get out, and the coat blows.
On these walls we hack off to a firm edge and repair in lime, finished in a breathable mineral paint instead of a plastic masonry paint that traps moisture all over again.
Post-war semis and blocks. Many Branksome houses and flats from the 1950s to the 1980s have render panels, pebbledash or a Tyrolean finish over blockwork or cavity brick. When they fail, it is usually cracking from the corners of openings and then delamination in sheets after a few frosts. We take off the blown areas, or the whole coat if most of it has parted, stabilise the background with a primer, and apply a mesh reinforced basecoat and a silicone thin coat or a through-coloured monocouche with a scraped finish. The colour is chosen from a sample on your own wall.
Beads and the bottom edge. Rusting galvanised beads split Branksome render from the corners. We use stainless or PVC angle beads and stop beads, a bellcast bead above the damp course so water drips clear, and keep the render off the ground.
External wall insulation. Where a Branksome solid wall or block is being re-rendered anyway, insulation board under a render system is worth pricing at the same time, because the scaffold is already up. It brings in building control and Approved Document L, and it changes the depth of the reveals and sills, which we show you before you decide.
Algae and green staining. On sound render in a shaded spot in Branksome, a clean down, a biocide treatment and a breathable coating is often all it needs. We will tell you when that is the case instead of selling you a new system.
When we would talk you out of it. A few hairline cracks in render that still sounds solid all over are a repair and a repaint, not a re-render.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access and scaffold, protection, preparation of the existing wall, the system and number of coats, beads and stop ends, and making good on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
Repairing render like for like on a Branksome house is maintenance. A block of flats has no permitted development rights, so a change of finish needs planning, and in the Brunstead Road Conservation Area rendering a house that is not already rendered needs permission too, the council keeps the list.
Cost
What decides the price of a rendering job
No rate per square metre, because the square metres are the easy part; what is already on the wall decides the price.
Getting to it. A detached Edwardian house near County Gates with a tall gable, a 1960s semi with a side path for a tower, and a block of flats off Poole Road where the scaffold goes round a car park are three different set ups. A bungalow gable comes off a tower, a three storey elevation wants a scaffold, and the platform has to stand for the whole system rather than a day. The work at height rules are why it is a priced line rather than something folded into a rate.
What is already on the wall. Rendering over sound brick is one job. Hacking off blown sand and cement, or a pebbledash that has parted from the background, is another, and it is the part nobody can see from the road. We tap the whole elevation before quoting, because the hollow areas set the hours.
The system, and what the wall behind it needs. Silicone thin coat over insulation, monocouche through-coloured, or traditional sand and cement all price differently and behave differently. On a solid wall that has to breathe, a plastic-rich modern system traps moisture and moves the problem inside, so the right system is a wall decision rather than a colour decision.
Comparing quotes for a Branksome render? Ask which system is being quoted and how many coats, whether the old render is being hacked off or overlaid, whether beads, bellcast and stop ends are included, whether the scaffold is in the price, and what happens to the existing sills and pipework.
If it has started to come away
Render that has blown or cracked open
Ring rather than use the form. A section that sounds hollow when you tap it, or a crack you can get a coin into, is letting water behind the render and the frost does the rest.
We make the loose area safe, sheet it if the weather is against us, and price the elevation once we can see how far the blown area actually goes. If render has fallen near a path, a pavement or a car park, fence the area off and tell the managing agent if it is a block. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
The one local thing
Rendering over brick near County Gates
Most of Branksome is ordinary suburban housing where rendering a house is a decision for you and your budget. The exception is the Brunstead Road Conservation Area, at the eastern end towards County Gates. It was designated for its late Edwardian Arts and Crafts houses, and what the council protects there is how they look from the street.
Inside a conservation area, the permitted development rules change. Cladding the outside of a house in render, pebbledash, stone, timber, tiles or plastic is not permitted development there, because it sits on article 2(3) land. So rendering over brick that has never been rendered needs planning permission, and it is not something a builder should start on your say so. Repairing render that is already there, in the same material and colour, is maintenance and can go ahead.
In practice we check the boundary before we quote. If the house is inside it, we price the repair that keeps the existing finish, and if a bigger change really is what you want, we write down exactly what it is so your application and the job match.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Branksome and BH12, from County Gates and Brunstead Road along Poole Road past the station and up to Alder Road, and next door into Parkstone and Westbourne. BCP Council handles planning and building control, and we are based in Boscombe.
You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free. Before you book a visit in Branksome, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Branksome?
Most repairs in Branksome 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.
| Question | In Branksome |
|---|---|
| Who decides | BCP Council is the planning authority for Branksome. BCP Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Brunstead Road Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Branksome. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | No National Park or National Landscape covers Branksome. |
Questions
Questions about rendering in Branksome
Can old render be repaired, or does it all need to come off?
If most of it is still stuck to the wall, repair it. We tap every elevation and mark the hollow areas before we quote, so you can see how much has actually parted.
Which render suits an old solid wall?
Lime, finished with a breathable paint. A hard cement render traps moisture in a solid wall and pushes damp inside.
Can I render my house in Branksome without permission?
Usually, if it is a house outside a conservation area. Inside the Brunstead Road Conservation Area, or on a block of flats, a new render finish needs planning permission.
How long does rendering take?
It depends on how much comes off and how many elevations there are. Each coat needs to cure, and we do not render in frost or heavy rain. The quote gives the timetable.
Nearby, and next door
Rendering near Branksome
Nearby places we also cover for rendering, with straight-line distances from Branksome, and the other trades we offer in Branksome itself.
Rendering nearby
Our other trades in Branksome
Rendering guides
Silicone, cement or lime: which render? Cracked render: which cracks matter Listed building consent for repointing and re-renderingEverything we do in Branksome Rendering, all areas Every area we cover
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Get your Branksome render looked at
Thomas comes out, taps the walls and prices the job in writing. The visit and the quote are free.