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Rendering Alternatives
Over the years builders and engineers have come up with different methods of covering and protecting the exterior walls of buildings. Traditionally buildings were rendered with lime or lime and concrete mixes and more contemporary renders may contain substances such as polymer which helps the render to adhere much more strongly to the walls. Rendering alternatives have included stone cladding, pebble dashing, spar dashing and Tyrolean wall finishes. Pebble dashing has been one of the most popular alternatives to traditional rendering and was prevalent on suburban homes in the nineteen twenties. Pebble dash is also used on cottages in areas where buildings need extra protection from harsh weather conditions.
Pebble Dashing and Spa Dash
Pebble dashing is a covering for exterior walls and one of the three main rendering alternatives. Pebble dashing is made up of a base coat of lime and cement. While the base render is still wet small, washed and drained stones are usually picked up in a small shovel and thrown at the wall. As each lot of pebbles hits the wall it is then pressed into the cement and lime base with a trowel. Pebble dashing is an economic form of wall covering that builders often used to cut costs in periods when more housing stock was needed and buildings had to be erected fast and as economically as possible. Pebble dash is good for covering up imperfections in exterior walls and helps the substrata. to breathe, preventing a buildup of condensation but the coating is not entirely waterproof nonetheless it is one of the more popular rendering alternatives. .
Pebble Dash and Damp
If you have damp in your home then an exterior wall coating such as pebble dashing can help to alleviate the problem. Painting over pebble dash should only ever be done by a professional, if you try and do it you will end up using a lot of paint and your exterior walls will look messy. It is possible to repair pebble dashing when some of the stones have come loose in certain areas. Spa dash is really the same as pebble dashing except for the fact that spa is added to the cement and lime base coat.
Tyrolean Wall Finish
Another of the more popular rendering alternatives is the Tyrolean wall finish. The Tyrolean finish is a wall covering and is basically a textured cement coating that is applied with something called a Tyrolean gun. Gun is a slight misnomer for this application tool because it is actually a special type of bucket that has a spindle in the centre, a bit like a hairbrush. Cement mixture is put into the tool and when the handle turns the spiked; hairbrush like cylinder picks up the cement and flicks it onto the wall surface in small blobs or splats. There is air and electric versions of the Tyrolean gun as the hand operated one can make you exhausted if used all day. The mixture continues to be applied until the desired texture is achieved across the wall. Unless the wall is properly prepared and the mixture is applied by a professional, the right look and texture can be difficult to achieve. The Tyrolean wall finish is one of the more popular rendering alternatives in parts of Europe.
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