We bought our house just over 3 years ago, it was then a lovely white rendered semi detached home. I didn't notice any problems with the render or paint, but after 2 years and one awful winter, the paint has started to flake at the bottom and bubble. I have had lots of conflicting advice, some people saying its the paint and some people saying its the render. We cannot currently afford to have it re-rendered, so have opted for re-painting it. After spending lots of labourious hours brushing off the flaking paint, filling holes and trying to remove some with a jet wash; the only paint that will budge is the flaking white paint. Is this okay to paint over again? The white paint at the moment is patchy (90% of the paint still on the house, with some flaked off at the bottom revealing the render). We wanted a colour change to a Sandtex Cool Grey.. I just want to make sure before we pay somebody to paint it, that it will stay on the wall and not flake off again as we would be painting over the white paint (most of it will not budge from the wall) Does anybody have any tips, or prep before hand? I don't want to have to do this every 2 years for the rest of my life! Please help, one very confused lady!!
Was the house recently rendered before you bought it, or has it been rendered for some time? One thing to definitely check is if the render bridges your damp proof course, if it does then moisture could be seeping up behind the render and making it constantly damp. Obviously external render is always going to get wet, but it should also have a way of drying out and breathing. Also do you know what paint was used previously? Was it the correct type? Ultimately you've said 90% of the paint is sound despite brushing and power washing which has to be a good thing!
A bit late in the year to start painting render. I would treat the affected area's with Everbuild 406 Stablishing fulid, it will bind & stablise the area before painting. http://www.everbuild.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=148