How to repair a pebble dash wall

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Pebble Dash Repair London

Since its last sustained period of popularity post-war, public opinion of pebbledash has only deteriorated. A 2014 survey conducted by Go Compare found that a pebble dash exterior is considered one of the most off-putting features of a property – with 31% of all those who were surveyed declaring it undesirable.

If you are of the same opinion, you are going to want to find a way of removing and replacing pebbledash or, at the very least, improving it somehow. In this blog post, we outline the best ways to paint, render and repair pebbledash.

How much does it cost to pebbledash a house?

Before beginning any project, you first want to have a solid understanding of the financial commitment involved. In the case of pebbledash, costs can vary wildly depending on the kind of work you are having completed. Tearing down pebbledash and replacing it with another more desirable material can cost thousands of pounds.

A simple repainting can be more financially palatable. From one wall coating company to another, costs for an identical project can differ significantly. With All Weather Coating though, you can rest assured that you will receive the best possible price.

After arranging a site visit, our expert team will assess your property, your problem, and how you want to go about solving it, to put together a competitive fee that you will agree is both fair and affordable.

Why is pebble dash rendering so difficult to repair or replace?

Pebbledash (or roughcast) render can be extremely tricky to repair – especially if attempted without the necessary blend of experience and equipment. The same thing that makes pebbledash so resistant to weather is the same thing that makes pebbledash so difficult to remove and repair.

Composed of a mixture of lime, sand, gravel, cement, and a collection of small pebbles or stones, this amalgamation of hard-wearing materials comes together to create a thrown together but bulky exterior surface. Because the stones and pebbles are literally thrown into the mixture, they are the first to fall away as time passes – resulting in a fragmented surface.

Covering pebbledash with a fresh coat of paint is therefore insufficient. So too, is attempting to render over pebbledash – not only because it is difficult to recreate the same tone and texture of the fallen away pebbles, but also because it would be an extremely trying task to fill in the missing parts like a jigsaw.

How to repair roughcast render

So, if pebbledash can’t realistically be removed, or replaced with another layer of pebbledash, what is the best way to go about repairing a sub-par pebbledash surface?

The simple answer is exterior wall coatings from All Weather Coating. Even with the best masonry paint for pebbledash, painting pebbledash would ordinarily be a hopeless endeavor. Exterior weatherproof wall coatings change all that though.

From All Weather Coating, our external wall coatings are more than twenty times thicker than typical paint and are infused with water-resistant silicone – making them the perfect cure for a patchy pebbledash surface. With a method we have honed and refined over time, our team has had years and years of experience repairing pebbledash exteriors.

Equipped with a state-of-the-art pump that ensures our exterior weatherproof wall coatings are applied perfectly uniformly, you can rest assured that our pebbledash repair service (unlike that of other pebbledash removal companies in London) will result in a home exterior you can be proud of.

Your guide to rendering pebble dash

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Pebbledash Repair

Pebbledash, a staple of home exteriors up and down the country, can be tricky to resurface when it begins to fall apart – which is inevitable given that the majority of them were first formed around 70 years ago during the post-war boom. So, if you’re stuck with a crumbling façade of sand, cement and pebbles, what should your next move be?

To help you answer this question, we have put together this guide to everything you need to know about pebbledash.

But first, we have to define exactly what pebbledash is. The exterior wall surface is formed when an array of pebbles are literally thrown at wet render, creating the pebble-strewn walls we are all so familiar with today. It differs slightly from roughcast render, which we could call its cousin. Instead of the pebbles being thrown into the render, roughcast render is formed when the pebbles are already incorporated into the mix of lime, cement, sand and water that we call mortar. Pebbledash then, perhaps the most haphazard of wall surfaces, can also seem to require an equally haphazard solution.

How to remove pebbledash?

Removing pebbledash is an extremely arduous and risk-laden endeavour. Ripping pebbledash forcibly from the walls of your home is bound to invite all kinds of structural issues – not to mention the potential invalidation of your home insurance.

How to cover pebble dash?

One of the first questions that generally pops into their heads of deteriorating pebbledash owners is how can I cover it up? And that is a good question for two reasons – aesthetically, patchy pebbledash is far from pleasing and practically, patchy pebbledash can allow heat out of your home and water into it.

As ever, the answer to this question depends on the ins-and-outs of the individual situation (we will always dispatch a qualified surveyor to comprehensively assess your site before beginning work). One solution which won’t work is the introduction of another layer of pebbledash – your home won’t be able to bear the increased weight. Pebbledash can be covered though; it just has to be done so with a substance that is up to the job, which leads me to the next common question…

How to paint pebble dash?

Paint, as a method of cover, is a no-go. Regular masonry paint is ill-equipped to create a protective weatherproof seal around brickwork. If that wasn’t already enough, the time-consuming nature of such an undertaking is enough to completely derail any hopes you may have harboured of simply painting over your damaged pebbledash. By hand, painting over pebbledash is excruciatingly long-winded and even once accomplished, you can’t be sure that you have covered all the cracks and crevices that are custom to a pebbledash exterior.

Weatherproof wall coatings are another matter altogether however. Many times thicker than traditional paint and infused with weather-resistant silicon, wall coatings are perfect for pebbledash repair. Applied using a highly sophisticated pump that carefully controls the ratio of air to coating, you can be certain to receive a perfectly distributed covering.

Book a site visit today

To get to the bottom of your pebbledash problem, enlist the services of All Weather Coating today by calling 0800 169 2049, emailing info@allweathercoating.co.uk, or using the contact form on our website. We can’t wait to hear from you!