Rendering in Breamore

Lime render suits old walls. A solid Breamore wall with no cavity soaks up rain and gives it back, so the coat over it has to be soft and breathable. Lime in two or three coats, hair gauged in the base, worked into the background and kept damp and covered while it cures. Finished with a float and limewash rather than a modern paint, which would seal the face and undo the whole point of it.

Taking off hard render. Cement on an old Breamore wall comes off by hand, in sections, never with a breaker, because the wall behind it is softer than the coat. Tapping first tells us how much is already loose. On these cottages an open wall never gets left overnight without protection.

Cracking, delamination and where the water is getting in. On a cement coat a crack is an entry point and the bond fails outwards from it. On a lime coat fine crazing is normal and largely self healing. Knowing which you have changes whether a crack is urgent or cosmetic.

Silicone thin coat and monocouche. The modern systems belong on the later Breamore houses, the extensions and the blockwork outbuildings, not on the old cottages. Primer, a polymer basecoat with mesh, then a through-coloured silicone topcoat or a single monocouche coat scraped back, with beads, stop ends and a bellcast at the base.

Sand and cement, pebbledash and Tyrolean. Where a wall already carries one of these on a suitable background, a scratch and float coat with a dry dash or a Tyrolean finish is a straightforward repair. We match aggregate and colour and hang a sample panel before the main wall.

Algae, green growth and staining. In Breamore, deep eaves and tree cover keep the top of a wall shaded and damp, so that is where the green appears. A soft wash lifts it. Pressure does not go near a lime coat, and it does not go near thatch at all.

Render over external wall insulation. Board fixed as a render carrier, then mesh, basecoat and topcoat over the top, with Approved Document L setting what a renovated wall should reach. On modern construction it is a good job. Under thatch it also thickens the wall out towards the eaves line, so on an old cottage it is usually the wrong answer twice over.

What the wall behind is made of. On an old solid wall, a hard cement render cracks, lets water in behind it, and then traps it there. Hacking that off and putting lime back is slower, but it lets the wall dry. On a modern cavity wall, a sand and cement, monocouche or silicone thin coat system is fine, and each costs differently.

How much has to come off. Sound render on a Breamore house can be repaired in patches. Blown render or pebbledash that has come away has to be hacked off, and that is slow, dusty work. Tapping the wall shows how much is hollow, and that sets the hours.

Coats and curing. Traditional lime render goes on in three coats, each left to cure. That means more days, and on a long drive from Boscombe, more planning.

Details. A bellcast bead over the base, stop ends at openings, and how the render meets window frames and old timber all take time. On a thatched house, the render has to finish under the thatch without damaging it.

Access. A scaffold that stands for the whole system is needed on a two storey wall. The work at height rules make it a priced line.

When you compare quotes, ask which render is proposed and in how many coats, whether the old coat is removed first, and whether the wall can still breathe afterwards.

A thatched roof throws water a long way clear of the wall, which is why these cottages have survived with soft renders on them for centuries. That overhang is a genuine advantage and it is worth protecting. It also shapes the render at the top of the wall and at the eaves.

Shade comes first: the top of the wall sits in permanent shadow, so it dries far more slowly than the rest of the elevation and it is where green growth and soft, eroded patches usually appear. The junction matters too. Render has to be finished into a soft, uneven, living edge rather than run up to a neat verge, which means hand work and a willingness to stop the coat short and detail it properly rather than tucking it in tight.

Then there is the access, which is the part that most affects a quote. A scaffold on a thatched cottage cannot bear on the roof and cannot be tied into it, so it stands independently and is usually built out further from the wall than it would be on a tiled house. Boards and materials have to be kept off the thatch, and anything that could spark near it is out of the question. None of that is difficult, but it is slower and it is a separate priced line rather than something absorbed into a rate. If a quote for a thatched cottage does not mention the access arrangements at all, ask why not.

Thomas Hannen owns the business. He taps your walls himself, decides the right render, and writes the price. He comes 16.1 miles from Boscombe to Breamore, and also works in Woodgreen, Hale, Rockbourne and the villages along the Avon towards Fordingbridge.

Planning and building control are handled by New Forest District Council. Look up Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd on Companies House under 15471719, a company registered in England and Wales. Checkatrade has verified one customer's review, which gives the firm 10 out of 10. Coming out to tap the walls is free, and the written quote prices every part separately at no cost. Before you book a visit in Breamore, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Breamore 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.