rendering All manner of questions and solutions to problems and issues surrounding the subject of brickwork, blockwork and stonework

[dan007]

please help am being told so many different things i am going to render bottom half of my my house was told to use washed sharp sand scratch coat 4 to 1 top coat 5 to 1 soak walls first can you tell me as was also told to use 3 in 1 additive plasticiser waterproofer and retarder to slow coats down when drying is this right and do you put it in both coats or just 1 coat and which 1 someone else also told me to put in a little pva to make top coat even tougher (is pva put in neat or watered down )please help many thanks

[Ressy]

To render your house or bungalow assuming it is already brick, it realy don't matter if you use 4 and 1 so long as you realise it is 4 sand and 1 cement some go for 5 and 1 but it is irrelevent. Yes you should certainly wet the wall first but only wet what you can render in about half hour max. I would use "plastering sand" as you would get a better finish but again that is only prefrence. You ought to fix a temporary battern to the wall to guide you on thickness about every 3ft or so to put a straight edge along the batterns to guide your thickness. I could go on forever but they are mostly tips not rules. Good Luck John

[Ressy]

Sorry, the plasticiser is a good this, this makes the render more useable it is better than washing up liquid although some people use that. PVA is generally for making the render stick to a poor wall that you will have to decide for yourself but it is not the end of the world if you don't. John

[dan007]

thanx very much for your help

[TheDoctor5]

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