Lobster wrote:
Phil L wrote:
JoeJoe wrote:
Our 1960's house has a spar dash exterior (small sharp stones,
pebbledash style).When we had our extension built a couple of years
ago the builder tried hard to match the new and old exteriors, but
it doesn't look very attractive. Despite the well documented
reservations (once you do it has to be repeated on a regular basis,
etc) we decided to go ahead and paint the house white.


Leave it to someone who has the wherewithall to do it correctly -
painting pebbledash is a pain in the arse, and he'll probably charge
you as much just to do the high bits.


If you are definately having it painted and you want a try, just do
a square at ground level with a roller to see what it's like - you
won't be doing it yourself.


I agree - one of the worst diy jobs I ever took on IMHO.

I have to disagree. It's very satisfying the way that even with a brush,
you can gradually cover the whole surface.

Though I
tried every permutation of roller I could lay my hands on, none worked
properly and I ended up using a brush - 'stippling' most of the time
to get the paint down between the stones.

Ditto. I think a lot depends on whether you have loose stones and how well
covered the original pebbledash is. If it's still very "jaggy" I think a
brush is the only tool to use.

It took forever to do and
even then I wasn't hsppy with the result; and as for the pain in my
wrists... never again.

Okay, I've got the sore wrists but I'm happy with my results and I know that
there's no way a paid painter would have taken the time to pressure wash and
stipple it in as thoroughly.

Eminently DIYable.

Tim