Rendering in Milford on Sea, seaward elevations
Salt keeps a seaward wall damp between showers, so the render specification on the elevation facing the water is not the same as the one on the sheltered gable.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Salt is the difference here. It sits on a seaward wall between showers, keeps the surface damp long after the rain has stopped, and works into a cement render through hairline cracks a sheltered wall would shrug off, so the specification changes on the elevations facing the water.
People ring about three things. A wall gone green and streaky that will not stay clean. Cracks round a window head you can get a fingernail into. A patch that gives a dull hollow note when you tap it, usually low down near a sill.
None of those is a decorating problem. Once water is getting behind a render the frost and the salt do the rest, and painting over it seals the moisture in. We tap the whole elevation rather than the part you pointed at, then put it in a written itemised quote with the scaffold, the preparation, the system, the beads and the making good on their own lines. The visit and the quote are free.
The work
Seaward walls, hollow patches and a finish that stays clean
Tapping the elevation first. Nothing gets quoted until we have gone over the wall with a hammer handle. Sound render gives a hard tight note, blown render sounds hollow and drummy, and the hollow area is nearly always bigger than the crack that made you ring. Near the sea it starts at a reveal, a sill or the bottom metre.
Hacking off. Where the render has parted from the background there is nothing left to bond to and it has to come off. We take it back to clean sound masonry, repair what is loose behind it, then rebuild in coats: a stabilising primer where the background is dusty, a mesh reinforced basecoat, then the finish.
Silicone thin coat. What we fit most on a cavity walled house near the water. It goes over a reinforced basecoat, it is through coloured so a scratch does not show white, and it sheds rain while still letting the wall breathe. It holds colour on a seaward elevation and cleans down easily.
Monocouche. A through coloured render applied thick, ruled off and scraped back to an even texture. No painting, hard wearing, good on a plain elevation. It wants a stable background and planned day joints, so we decide where each day stops before we start.
Sand and cement, pebbledash and Tyrolean. Plenty of walls here still carry a scratch coat, a float coat and a dash. Where the rest of the elevation is sound we patch rather than replace, matching the aggregate and the throw as closely as it can be. Tyrolean is flicked on and is harder to blend, and we will say when a patch will always show.
Render over external wall insulation. On a solid walled house with no cavity to fill, insulation board fixed outside and rendered over lifts the thermal performance without losing a room. The render then sits on the board or a render carrier rather than the masonry, so the beads, the base track and the reveals all change.
Period and solid walls. A pre-1919 solid wall takes moisture in and lets it back out. Put a plastic rich system on it and the moisture is trapped and comes out inside instead. Those get lime render, which stays breathable and moves with the wall.
Beads, bellcast and stop ends. Where the render stops is where it fails. A bellcast throws water clear at the base, stop beads give a clean edge at a reveal, angle beads keep a corner straight. On this coast we use stainless, because a galvanised bead near the water rusts and pushes a brown line through the finish.
Algae and staining. Shaded and seaward walls green over because they stay damp. A soft wash and a treatment lifts it. Where the topcoat has chalked the answer is a recoat, not a clean.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
Same team from first visit to last, one person to ring, and no sub-contracting your work out to somebody you have never met. 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.
Re-rendering in the same finish is maintenance. Changing the external appearance is a planning question, and the Planning Portal sets out the line. There is no conservation area of its own here, but the parish carries 28 listed entries, and on a listed building the render is listed fabric. Building control engages once a big enough area is renewed, because Approved Document L can ask for the thermal element to be improved.
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 single storey rear extension comes off a tower, a two storey semi wants a scaffold on that elevation, and a three storey block near the front wants one that stands for the whole system rather than a day. 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? 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. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
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. A wall that faces the water and has already lost a patch will not sit still through a winter of salt and driven rain, so those get looked at quickly rather than pencilled in for spring. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
What salt actually does to a rendered wall
The coast is under a mile away and the weather comes in off the water from the south west, which is the direction the most exposed elevations face. Salt does two things and neither shows from the pavement. It holds moisture, so the surface stays damp between showers instead of drying. And when a salt laden wall finally does dry, the salt crystallises just under the face and pushes the surface off in flakes. That is why a seaward wall goes powdery while the sheltered gable of the same house looks fine.
It also eats metal. A galvanised bead, a mild steel lintel end or a nail left from an old bracket rusts from the coating inwards and stains through the finish. So the rules here are short. Do not let anyone seal a damp seaward wall to tidy it up: that traps moisture behind a film and the face comes off in sheets. Do not accept galvanised beads. Pick the finish that dries fastest.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the village, Keyhaven, Hordle and the lanes down towards the spit, broadly SO41, under New Forest District Council. 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.
Questions
Milford on Sea questions we get asked
Does living near the sea change which render system I should use?
It changes the details more than the system. A silicone thin coat over a mesh reinforced basecoat suits a cavity walled house here. What does change is the metalwork: stainless beads, and corroded fixings cut out during the hack off.
My wall sounds hollow in one corner. Does the whole elevation have to come off?
Not always. We tap the full wall and mark the edge of the hollow area, which is usually larger than it looks. If most of the elevation is sound we cut the blown section out and patch it. If the hollow areas are scattered, patching only moves the problem.
Can you match the existing pebbledash on a repair?
We can get close, and we will show you a sample panel first. It depends on the aggregate, often no longer sold in the same blend, and on how far the old dash has weathered. On a bleached seaward wall a patch will show, and we say so first.
Why has the render gone green on one wall and not the others?
Because that wall stays damp. Sun and wind dry a south facing elevation quickly, a shaded one holds moisture, and this close to the water salt in the surface pulls more in. Algae only needs damp, so a finish that dries faster keeps it off longer.
How long does the scaffold have to stay up?
Longer than people expect. The system goes on in coats and each has to set before the next, so a basecoat needs days rather than hours and cold weather stretches that. We would rather leave the platform up than rush a topcoat onto a green basecoat.
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Find out what is actually loose before you price a render job
Thomas comes out, taps the whole elevation, tells you which sections are sound and prices the system with the scaffold, beads and making good itemised. The visit and the quote are free.