Mike wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
ups.com...

(With apologies to anyone who had already seen this on
free.uk.diy.home)

My parents are convinced that they need to sign away several thousands
of pounds on a treatment known as Protectacoat for a house which has
solid brick walls with pebbledashed render - this is at least 50-60
years old and now there is some penetrating damp.

Protectacoat apparently seals the existing render with some sort of
rubberised layer and claims to provide a waterproof barrier against
further ingress of rain. This sounds highly suspect to me.

I'm wondering whether it would be better (and possibly cheaper) simply
to have the existing pebbledash render removed and a new one
re-applied?

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.



Search for comments on this sort of product in www.periodproperty.co.uk
There have been numerous comments, all negative.



I was told by a "reputable" damp company that my soft sandstone wall
should be sealed with a moisture impermeable coating.

I didn't do it after looking at info from the above site and getting
some technical info from the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings (http://www.spab.org.uk/).

They were clearly either cowboys or just incompetent as there would be
no way for trapped moisture to escape thus accelerating the decay ... I
would imagine that pebbledash would be effected in a similar way.

If you can find the source of the penetrating damp (gutters, down pipes,
gullies, roof tiles etc etc) it might be simple to eliminate it rather
than the symptom.

Have you compared the cost of re-rendering to this proposed treatment?

Alex