Rendering in West Lulworth

Silicone thin coat on a West Lulworth wall starts with primer, a polymer basecoat with glass fibre mesh bedded through it, then a through-coloured silicone topcoat scraped to an even texture. It is water shedding, it flexes slightly and it stays cleaner than most finishes. On an exposed elevation the basecoat goes on at full thickness with the mesh properly buried, because a thin base is where these systems fail.

Monocouche. A single through-coloured coat put on thick and scraped back the next day. Hard wearing, and it wants a sound background and a settled spell of weather. Onshore wind and rain during the first few days is not a settled spell, so on the seaward side we plan it carefully or use something else.

Sand and cement, pebbledash and Tyrolean. Scratch coat, float coat, then a smooth face, a dry dash thrown on green, or a Tyrolean flicked on. The dash finishes in West Lulworth have lasted well because they are thick and rough, which sheds water. Matching a patch means matching aggregate size and colour, so a sample panel goes up first.

Lime render on the old walls. Solid rubble stone and old brick walls in West Lulworth have no cavity and get rid of rain by drying out through their own face. They need lime, two or three coats, hair gauged in the base. Sealing one with a cement or acrylic coat traps the moisture and moves the damp indoors, which on this coast happens quickly.

Tapping and hacking off. Blown render has parted from its background. We tap the whole West Lulworth elevation and mark the hollow areas, and on a weather wall those areas are usually wider than they look, because water has been travelling behind the coat rather than sitting where it got in.

Cracks, delamination, algae and staining. Fine crazing is shrinkage. An open crack on an exposed elevation is an entry point and wants cutting out and reinforcing, not filling. Green and black staining on a shaded wall comes off with a soft wash, not a pressure lance.

Render over external wall insulation. Board fixed as a render carrier, then mesh, basecoat and topcoat over it, with Approved Document L setting what a renovated wall is expected to reach. On an exposed elevation the edges and the base detail decide whether it lasts, so that is where our quote gets specific.

What is on the wall now. Sound render can be repaired or overcoated. Blown sand and cement, or pebbledash that has parted from the wall, has to be hacked off first. We tap every elevation before quoting, because the hollow areas set the hours and nobody can see them from the road.

The right system for the wall. Solid stone walls need to breathe, so a lime render is often right on them. Silicone thin coat and monocouche suit block and modern brick. A hard cement render on stone traps moisture and pushes the damp inside.

Exposure. The south west side takes the driven rain straight off the sea. It needs a sound bellcast over the damp course, good beads and stop ends, and proper curing time, which can mean waiting for a better week.

The platform. A West Lulworth bungalow gable above the cove comes off a tower. A two or three storey wall needs scaffold for the whole job, and on an exposed site it has to be tied and netted properly. The work at height rules make access a line of its own.

Ask other firms: which system, and how many coats? Is the old render hacked off or overlaid? Are beads, bellcast and stop ends in the price, and is the scaffold?

How much wind driven rain a wall gets is measurable, and it is the reason two identical houses can need different render specifications.

The method for assessing exposure of walls to wind driven rain is a British Standard, and the short version is that exposure comes from how much rain falls, how hard the wind blows it and how sheltered the wall is by ground and buildings around it. Half a mile from open water with the prevailing weather coming straight in off the sea, a south west facing gable here is in a different category from a sheltered wall inland, and it needs to be treated like one.

What changes in West Lulworth is the build up, not the brand. A thicker basecoat with the mesh properly buried instead of skimmed over. Beads and stop ends at every opening rather than render run tight to a frame. A bellcast at the base so water leaves the wall instead of tracking behind it. Cills with a proper drip so rain is thrown clear rather than run back under. And on the most exposed elevation, a finish with some texture to it, because a rough face sheds water better than a polished one. It costs more on that one wall than on the other three. That is the correct answer, and any quote that prices all four elevations identically has not looked at which way the house faces.

The village is 19.4 miles from Boscombe, where we are based, and we render across it, East Lulworth, Winfrith, Wool and the Purbeck coast, broadly BH20, and Dorset Council decides planning and building control there. Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd is our registered company in England and Wales, number 15471719. Before you book a visit in West Lulworth, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It is Thomas Hannen's business, and he taps the render and prices the job himself. A verified customer has given us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit costs nothing, and the quote, written out item by item, is free as well.

Most repairs in West Lulworth 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.