So I recently hired a builder to fully re-render my house with roughcast with the following conditions:
An hour later the forecast rain turned up and the fresh render which was on the most exposed side of the house was hit with a number of showers before the temperature dropped below freezing overnight. The next morning the gang turned up to continue rendering only for me to question them on it being to cold to render when everything is still covered in frost to which eventually they grumblingly agreed and went off to another roofing job. Again I had to deal with my dad that day so I didn't get a good chance to look at what had been done, however on the next day when I did I wasn't happy.
I kicked them off the job at that point as to me this is gross incompetence/negligence (as rendering issues aside they couldn't even make good on the keep the area somewhat tidy/) and they've refused to return any of my 6k deposit even though the majority of the materials were collected by the supplier within the 14-day return period. When they turned up to remove the scaffolding I also caught them up on the garage roof trying to hose all the stone chips off the roof into the gutter then down the drain so I again I had to tell them to stop
Clearly I'm not a professional plasterer and I'm just going based on the information I've read online, however I'm interested to see what the professionals on here make of the points relating to the rendering above - am I expecting too much with the points I've listed or are there potentially more mistakes that I've missed?
- The work should be done properly as it was intended to be done once and last 30+ years (i.e. removal of all cracked/bossed render, no corner cutting - this was a higher end quote in excess of 14K so I didn't consider it cheaping out. Location is central belt Scotland so we aren't talking London prices here)
- The working area should be protected to prevent render/stone chips ending up damaging the patio/driveway/garden areas around my house
- All fixings should be removed/refitted by them
An hour later the forecast rain turned up and the fresh render which was on the most exposed side of the house was hit with a number of showers before the temperature dropped below freezing overnight. The next morning the gang turned up to continue rendering only for me to question them on it being to cold to render when everything is still covered in frost to which eventually they grumblingly agreed and went off to another roofing job. Again I had to deal with my dad that day so I didn't get a good chance to look at what had been done, however on the next day when I did I wasn't happy.
- They had rendered directly over the most exposed 50 year old, weather beaten render on my house without any preparation other than PVA (no cleaning, knocking off loose stones, removal of cracked/bossed render which I had been up on the garage roof and identified myself previously as it was causing water to get behind the render then leak into my garage). The render they were using (Sikawall 530) is listed as being unsuitable for over rendering existing render. My main concern here was that at some point in the near future large pieces of render could potentially come off the wall causing damage or injury.
- They hadn't masked off any areas so the garage roof, plus front driveway/back patio were covered in render/stones and worse they had simply attempted to use my hose to wash the stones/render off those areas resulting in the gaps between the patio slabs being filled with stone chips/render which had set - the plant/flower bed they mentioned was now a solid slab of render and stones. The deep flow gutters were full of stones, plus somehow they also left my garage door open while they were doing it so there were a considerable number of stones in there too
- Weirdly despite purchasing a large amount of corner beading they hadn't actually used any on the external corners which I believe is bad news as the corners they had left weren't exactly straight and would likely crack in the future once the other walls are rendered
- Where the attached garage roof met the wall they hadn't used any beading and had simply plastered over the lead flashing (a month on a tap with my boot results in the render breaking off/crumbling in these areas)
- The downpipe hadn't been removed so they had attempted to render with it in place leaving a flat area without any stones and a number of holes through to the original render which to me means water ingress and problems down the line
- They have partially obscured the loft vents on the eves in various places
I kicked them off the job at that point as to me this is gross incompetence/negligence (as rendering issues aside they couldn't even make good on the keep the area somewhat tidy/) and they've refused to return any of my 6k deposit even though the majority of the materials were collected by the supplier within the 14-day return period. When they turned up to remove the scaffolding I also caught them up on the garage roof trying to hose all the stone chips off the roof into the gutter then down the drain so I again I had to tell them to stop
Clearly I'm not a professional plasterer and I'm just going based on the information I've read online, however I'm interested to see what the professionals on here make of the points relating to the rendering above - am I expecting too much with the points I've listed or are there potentially more mistakes that I've missed?
