On 10/05/2011 20:55, Jason wrote:
I am having my chimney rebuilt in a few weeks time, and to do that, the
gable-end wall needs scaffolding. Taking advantage of that, I would like to
paint the wall, since I cannot get to it without the scaffolding.

It is a big North East-facing wall, very close to the sea, and so gets a lot of
wind and driving rain. The wall also already has two layers of rendering - an
underlying layer that has probably been there thirty years, and a new layer that
is more like twenty years old. The outer layer is a very tough layer of some
kind of concrete, and is very hard almost to the point of feeling brittle.

We don't have any damp problems on that wall, at present.

Now the question is, what should I paint it with? I am looking for something
that will last a long time (10+ years), and will not cause any dampness. I have
no idea if some paints will seal in water and cause damp, or cause the rendering
to detach. Not knowing what the rendering is treated with (something that makes
it waterproof, no doubt) I also have to worry about what will "take" and not
peal off.

Any advice on what I should be looking for, while the clock is ticking (doing
this in three weeks from today!)

Here is the end wall, courtesy Google Street View:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonju...n/photostream/

The green is mostly gone now, and the chimney is leaving rather a lot more than
this!

Thanks,

-- Jason

Thanks for your help everyone - much appreciated. Even though this job is not
strictly DIY, I do like to know what I'm buying into, and I do like to get
involved as much as possible to keep the costs down. Rebuilding a chimney and
walking around 30ft up scaffolding is just not something I feel confident to
tackle, though I'll be painting the lower levels.

That's not say I won't be sneaking up there to take some pictures. Being
surrounded by sea on three sides should get me a nice view :-)

I'm probably going to be going for the Johnstone's Stormshield. I've had a few
local houses pointed out that have it, and they look great. Magnolia is on offer
at various places, but I suspect my partner has other ideas on colours. I'm not
sure if the "self cleaning" version is worth the 40% premium though. There is
very little explanation about what it actually means, apart from containing
miracle nano-particles (nano-bots may be the ideal solution though;-)

I've got lots of ivy to pull off before painting, so will probably be back here
in a panic shouting, "help - how do I get these little stringy bits off?!". I
might invest in a wire brush for that.

-- Jason