Rendering in Sandleheath, knowing your wall

Measuring and tapping come first. Wall thickness at a reveal, the brick pattern where it shows, and a hammer handle over the whole elevation. Between them those three tell us what the background is and how much of the render has blown and parted from it, which is what the price actually turns on.

Hacking off and rebuilding. Blown render on a Sandleheath wall comes off back to sound masonry. Open joints are repointed, the background is cleaned down and stabilised where it is dusty, then the new system goes on in coats: a mesh reinforced basecoat and a finish, or lime coats where the wall is period fabric.

Lime render on solid walls. A pre-1919 Sandleheath wall has no cavity. It was built breathable, so moisture soaks into the masonry and dries back out through the face, and that is the only route it has. Lime render keeps it open, moves with the wall, and a damaged area can be cut out and patched without disturbing the rest.

Why a plastic rich system is wrong on one. Wrap a solid wall in a modern polymer topcoat and the moisture that used to leave through the face is trapped. It does not disappear, it moves to the softest route available, which is the inside plaster, and the first sign is damp indoors on a wall that never had it.

Silicone thin coat on cavity walls. On a Sandleheath cavity wall the outer leaf can dry both ways and the cavity does the rest, so a through coloured silicone system is a good answer. A stabilising primer where needed, a mesh reinforced basecoat, then a topcoat that sheds rain, cleans down and never needs painting.

Monocouche. A single thick through coloured coat, ruled off and scraped back. Hard wearing on a plain elevation, no painting afterwards, and the day joints are planned before the first mix so no seam lands mid wall.

Sand and cement, pebbledash and Tyrolean. Scratch coat, float coat and dash where the elevation already carries it, matched to a sample panel where the aggregate can still be had. On an inter-war house a well repaired dash often outlasts a replacement.

Taking old cement off period fabric. A hard cement render on a solid wall is the fault to look for on the older Sandleheath cottages. It cracks, water gets behind it, and it cannot get back out. It comes off by hand rather than with a breaker, and the wall is allowed to dry before anything replaces it.

Beads, bellcast and stop ends. Bellcast at the base above the damp proof course, stop beads at reveals and eaves, angle beads on corners, and a movement joint on a long elevation. On soft old walls we hand form the arris rather than bed a hard bead into it.

External wall insulation. Board fixed outside and rendered over, on a render carrier where the background will not take a direct fix. On a solid wall it is the only way to raise the thermal performance without losing a room, and the build up has to be one that still lets the wall breathe.

Rendering in Sandleheath has no rate per square metre. What is already on the wall, and what the wall is, decide the price. Solid or cavity. A pre-1900 solid brick wall needs a breathable render, usually lime, or damp builds up behind it and moves inside. A post-war cavity wall can take a modern system. The choice is set by the wall, not the colour chart.

What comes off first. Old sand and cement that has blown, or pebbledash parting from the brick, has to be hacked off before anything goes on. Nobody sees that from the road, and it often sets the hours.

The system. Lime, sand and cement, a through-coloured monocouche, or a silicone thin coat over insulation board each cost differently. Bellcast beads, corner beads and stop ends round every opening add up.

Access. A cottage tight to the lane, a semi with a side passage and a detached house with a drive round it are three different platforms. The work at height rules make the scaffold a priced line.

Ask which system is quoted, how many coats, whether the old render comes off, and whether the beads and scaffold are included.

Measure at a window or door from the inside face of the wall to the outside face. A solid brick wall is usually around 230mm, the length of two bricks. A cavity wall is nearer 280mm to 300mm, because there is a gap between two leaves.

Then look at any exposed brickwork: a solid wall shows brick ends, the short square faces, worked into the pattern to tie the skins together, while a cavity wall shows only long faces because metal ties do that job.

For a Sandleheath wall, that one measurement decides the shortlist. Solid wall means the render has to stay breathable, so lime or a system specifically designed to remain open, and the guidance on managing moisture in buildings is the standard behind that. Cavity wall means a modern through coloured system is a reasonable choice. If a quote arrives without anyone having measured the wall or tapped the render, it was written from the pavement, and on a mixed street like this one that is a coin toss rather than a specification.

We render in Sandleheath, Alderholt, Damerham and the lanes towards Fordingbridge, broadly SP6, under New Forest District Council. From our base on Wolverton Road in Boscombe, Sandleheath is 14 miles. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, company number 15471719, registered in England and Wales. Before you book a visit in Sandleheath, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Thomas Hannen owns it, taps the walls and prices the render himself before anyone else is involved. Our Checkatrade page carries a verified customer's 10 out of 10. No fee for the survey visit, and none for the itemised written quote.

Most repairs in Sandleheath 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.