We understand how disappointing it can be when you’ve paid for a job and you’re not happy with the end result. We get a quite a few queries from people who have had their properties rendered and are sadly not happy with the finish. There are several common issues that tend to arise:
• The render has lots of hairline cracks over it (or even large cracks!)
• There is an inconsistent finish across the wall surface.
• Wrong colour of render.
• Algae seems to be growing on the newly-rendered wall.
• The render seems to be bubbling.
Having spent lots of money on giving your home a face lift, it can be pretty gutting if the end result does not live up to expectations. The good news is that at EWI Store we have all the products you will need to help you fix the issue, so you can once again be proud of your home!
In this blog, we’ll go into a bit more detail about each of these issues that can arise & how you can solve them.
Cracks forming in your render?
We get lots of people who want to fix cracked render and they ask whether it is enough just to go over their cracked render with our textured render topcoat. The answer here is, sadly, no! The textured render topcoat gets applied extremely thinly – take for example our popular 1.5mm Silicone Silicate render system – this is applied on top of the base coat at a thickness of just 1.5mm.
The render can’t be applied directly on top of previous render for two reasons:
- Firstly, the surface on which our thin coat renders are applied need to be perfectly flat. If it isn’t flat, it is impossible to achieve the required textured finish – the base coat provides this perfectly flat surface on which the top coat sits.
- The second reason is that even if the wall was incredibly flat, were you to apply the render topcoat only (i.e. without the base coat layer), it would not have sufficient strength and so would fail in a short period of time.
When applying our render systems on top of another render finish, we would always recommend using EWI-225 Premium Adhesive. This is stronger than the EWI-220, and therefore the whole system will be that little more robust. This is pretty important as, if you’re already replacing one render system with another, the last thing you want to have to do is to replace it again 5 years down the line. Our render-only systems should be crack-free for a minimum of 10 years if installed correctly.
So if you have render that has been newly installed and you are already seeing cracks, use our EWI-225 Premium Adhesive plus EWI-66640 Fibreglass Mesh for the base coat, and then apply our top coat renders (ideally Silicone or Mineral).
The same applies if the render finish is inconsistent across the wall surface. If you have had your property rendered and you are not happy with the finish, give us a call – we have a network of approved renderers and external wall insulation installers who will all do a great job! The answer to solving the issue is the same though – a new layer of basecoat, (with embedded fibreglass mesh) and then the render top coat to give the textured finish.
Unhappy with the colour of your render?
Sometimes, when you’re unhappy with your render finish, it is simply that you want to change the colour of your home. In this instance, the solution is quite a bit cheaper! You just need a bucket of our Silicone Paint. The Silicone Paint is breathable and can be coloured to meet your design requirements.
It can be painted on most renders and two coats should do the job, regardless of the colour of the original render (check out ‘The Best Masonry Paint? Silicone Paint’). In some cases you will need to prime the existing render before applying our Silicone Paint – the easiest thing to do if you are unsure is give us a call, and one of our team will be happy to help!
Got algae growing on your render?
Unfortunately, algae growth can occur very quickly on new render. There are some renders that are particularly liable to algae growth, and one of these is Acrylic render – many people look to acrylic render since it is the cheapest option to buy and therefore it keeps install costs down.
On the other hand, silicone/mineral renders will tend to inhibit algae growth, but be mindful of where you house is situated. If you live in middle of woods, then unfortunately the chances of having no algae growth at all is unlikely, even if you use silicone render. Here, you may wish to pick a slightly darker colour so that light algae growth won’t show. If Acrylic render has been installed though, you can apply a new layer of base coat and silicone render and this will certainly help.
So, if you’re unhappy with your render finish on your property, just get in touch and we can give you some suggestions on how to improve it!
22 thoughts on “Unhappy with your render finish? We can help!”
Hi, is there a way I can get a completely smooth render finish? I want it to be crack free, but I don’t like the textured finish.
Hi Bugbettle, we can get a 0.5mm textured finish, but we don’t offer a totally smooth finish. Some of our customers use the 225 premium adhesive (with the embedded fibreglass mesh) and then paint this with a Silicone paint, but this certainly won’t be as robust as using our render systems.
We had sand and cement render done in April of this year. It is already cracking, to see we are unhappy with our render finish is a bit of an understatement! I know you say your render doesn’t crack, but how is it different from the sand and cement renders?
Hi Gabriel, our render itself is very flexible, so that helps, but the key is actually in the layer underneath the render topcoat. The basecoat layer as it is known is a 6mm layer of cement based adhesive with an embedded fibreglass mesh and it is this that gives the render its strength and flexibility.
Hi there, I have applied and finish a small Ewi wall, but when the top coat has dried it has left tiny little holes all over the wall, I have been installing ewi for 5 years now and it does happen from time to time but I don’t know why?
Can I paint over the render Even if it’s been over 3 weeks she nice I topped it or should I re top it instead?
Many thanks
Hi Shane, the reason this happens, is if it is applied in too hot weather and shouldn’t be applied in direct sunlight . It should have ideal application temperatures on the product packaging and this should prevent pin holes effecting your final render- hope this helps 🙂
Hi can I sicicon thin coat render straight over a sand a cement fine down finish which the house is already done with but just want a quick upgrade I’m just wondering what’s the best method can I SBR for a bond coat and apply the thin coat straight over any feedback would be appreciated thanks.craig
Hi Craig,
We would always recommend installing a basecoat + embedded mesh prior to applying the thin top coat otherwise there is a risk of cracking.
Why has the top coat cracked and started peeling off my walls
Hi Sean, it’s difficult to say without a bit more information. Could you give our technical team a call or email over some pictures of the wall? Thanks!
Hi Ive just had my extension rendered with this your product I picked a colour grey it’s been 3weeks and its all patchy except one wall which is darker than the others they put the first coat on and left it for a week before putting the colour coat on the builder says it can take up to 2months to dry even but I think he’s talking rubbish
Hi, I have recently had an extension where all walls have been rendered with sand and cement render mix and have all had 2-3 coats of smooth finish sandtex paint. I have down lights in the soffits and when these are on at night the rendered walls look terrible due to poor finish on the render. Can you thin coat system go straight over my sandtex finish wall, or do I have to remover the whole top finish of render before installing you thin coat system?
Hi there, no it doesn’t have to be removed. You would need to assess the structural strength of the render already, and if it ok, you can use combination of products to bring it up to scratch. You will need the Universal Primer on top of the painted finish, a basecoat and mesh, render primer and the final silicone render. Hope this helps.
We are currently having our EWI system finished – we got as far as doing the basecoat ourselves some time ago but then decided that it was a job best left to the professionals! Anyhoo, the chap we hired to complete the job is going over the entire basecoat with more basecoat (but only a 2mm thick layer). On one wall the new basecoat layer he has applied appears to be cracking. We think this was because he was doing it on a shockingly hot day and he had to keep spraying the wall with water to stop it drying so fast. We are going to speak to him about the cracks but just so I am armed with a bit of knowledge, if he says ‘Oh its okay, once I apply the silicone render (1.5mm) the cracks won’t show and they won’t affect the finish’ am I right to challenge him on this and ask him to re-do the basecoat?
Hi there, best thing the installer could have done is meshed and basecoated the whole layer 4-6mm and then done it this way. Putting any product on when its too sunny and hot is not a great thing to do. The same goes with the final finish. That is false to say that cracks won’t show when the silicone is on as we don’t know how the cracks will develop. It should be crack free throughout. The mesh must sit in the final third of the basecoat as the final tip!- Hope this helps 🙂
We’ve had our render on for only 12 months & we now have grey patches coming through on one side of the house. Also green patches round the window ledges & on the bottom of the walls.
If you are able to send photos of this problem to our technical team we should be able to help or contact us at [email protected]
Hi I have just done krend rendering on my property 2 weeks agoI have used Ivory colour but it looks too yellow so I am not happy with this finish so can I use silicone paint on direct top of this krend render?
Hi, Yes you can apply silicone paint on top of render. You can apply a topcoat primer before the silicone paint but this is not a necessity.
Hi. I have just had a monocouche render system installed- 4 weeks ago. It is now showing hairline cracks in places and is also still crumbly rather than hard as I would expect after 4 weeks. We have just had extremely hot weather so I’m wondering if it dried too quickly causing these problems. The installer is cooperative and has already ordered more product to repair the cracks but I’m concerned that it will always be prone to cracking. What do you suggest?
We have put on monocoush scratch coat,but it was left to long to scratch,can we just put another coating top and re scratch thks
Hi Nigel, you can apply another thin coat on top and scratch it back whilst it’s still not fully set. However, we’d recommend wetting the surface prior to applying the new layer.