Rendering over painted concrete blocks?

[King Herald]

Being a lazy git I decided to paint two walls of my garage, rather than faff about getting someone in and rendering them properly. I electric wire brushed the mess off a bit before painting, as the mortar work was rather crap.

I now realise it looks just a touch tacky as it is.

So, if I now wanted the job doing properly would I have to scrape all that paint off to bare concrete?

You can't see the joins here, but it does look a bit nasty close up.

[MrV]

You could fix sheets of expanded metal to it,bit of a pain but will work.

[jules_s]

For starters I would suggest painting it a darker colour, rendering around those micro windows will be a right pain.

Short of that (and I cant see the detail too well) I would suggest some timber/trespa or similar lapped panelling to cover the blockwork up.

[King Herald]

jules_s said:

For starters I would suggest painting it a darker colour, rendering around those micro windows will be a right pain.

Short of that (and I cant see the detail too well) I would suggest some timber/trespa or similar lapped panelling to cover the blockwork up.

Yes, the toilet windows seemed a good idea at the time....

I've toyed with the idea of some sort of cladding, featherboard, whatever.

I think fixing the steel mesh would be a major job, and may well crack or rust through, especially with them dumb ass windows in there.

[VxDuncan]

King Herald said:

jules_s said:

For starters I would suggest painting it a darker colour, rendering around those micro windows will be a right pain.

Short of that (and I cant see the detail too well) I would suggest some timber/trespa or similar lapped panelling to cover the blockwork up.

Yes, the toilet windows seemed a good idea at the time....

I've toyed with the idea of some sort of cladding, featherboard, whatever.

I think fixing the steel mesh would be a major job, and may well crack or rust through, especially with them dumb ass windows in there.

UPVC cladding?

If you go the render route, I would serious consider removing the glass bricks, and whacking a lintel and cheap window in there.

[Nobby Diesel]

If you want to render over paint, just remember that your render is keying onto paint. If the paint is not keyed to the blocks well, you have trouble ahead.
A thorough jet wash at close quaters will loosen and remove any loose paint. After that, your render should be fine.
Expamet is an option, but is probably "belts and braces"

[JR]

Nobby Diesel said:

Expamet is an option, but is probably "belts and braces"

http://www.expamet.co.uk/ is probably the cheapest and best option + fit a new toilet window first of a more conventional design.

[King Herald]

JR said:

Nobby Diesel said:

Expamet is an option, but is probably "belts and braces"

http://www.expamet.co.uk/ is probably the cheapest and best option + fit a new toilet window first of a more conventional design.

It isn't really a toilet in there, just the glass block windows. I have thought about changing out the big zig zag designed bit and putting a big window in. The blocks give privacy, security, a good spread of light inside, insulation, and they won't smash when I'm grinding and stuff is flying about.

[jeff m]

King Herald said:

It isn't really a toilet in there, just the glass block windows. I have thought about changing out the big zig zag designed bit and putting a big window in. The blocks give privacy, security, a good spread of light inside, insulation, and they won't smash when I'm grinding and stuff is flying about.

Glass blocks give you function over appearance.
The worse the surface the better the key.
There is a concrete product with fibreglass flecks in it for keying to existing concrete.

Not sure from the picture how unsightly it is.
I personally look for the "least work" solution first, which could be a trellis with climbing plan or a potted conifer, neither would cover the unsightlyness but would divert attention away from it.

[King Herald]

jeff m said:

King Herald said:

It isn't really a toilet in there, just the glass block windows. I have thought about changing out the big zig zag designed bit and putting a big window in. The blocks give privacy, security, a good spread of light inside, insulation, and they won't smash when I'm grinding and stuff is flying about.

Glass blocks give you function over appearance.
The worse the surface the better the key.
There is a concrete product with fibreglass flecks in it for keying to existing concrete.

Not sure from the picture how unsightly it is.
I personally look for the "least work" solution first, which could be a trellis with climbing plan or a potted conifer, neither would cover the unsightlyness but would divert attention away from it.

it's not really that bad, but it definitly looks like painted concrete blocks. I gave the surface a good smoothing with the wire wheel before I started though.

Maybe a few more coats of paint would build it up and lessen the look over time.

Trellises or window boxes or such forth might be the way forward.

I plan to UPVC clad them bare wood gable ends sometime soon, which'll help as well.

[AlexanderV8]

That's a good garage with an impressive roof overhang. If you want to make it more appealing, I'd definitely go the timber route - tongue & grooved for the twee Swiss chalet look, or 7.5" weatherboarding for the barn style. I'd go for the barn style as you've already got timber doors in keeping and then stain it dark. You might need to replace the windows though as cutting the timber around those staggered ones will be a right pain (no pun intended!).

[King Herald]

AlexanderV8 said:

That's a good garage with an impressive roof overhang. If you want to make it more appealing, I'd definitely go the timber route - tongue & grooved for the twee Swiss chalet look, or 7.5" weatherboarding for the barn style. I'd go for the barn style as you've already got timber doors in keeping and then stain it dark. You might need to replace the windows though as cutting the timber around those staggered ones will be a right pain (no pun intended!).

I don't want to spend any more than necessary to make it look the part. Timber cladding would be getting up there in price if I did all four sides, but I'll look into prices. Plus it'll help insulate a little I guess.

And yes, the windows have turned out to be more of a pain that I ever thought. They're great from the inside though, spreading light all over the shop, but still stopping nosy people seeing what is inside.

[robinhood21]

How about re-coating with a textured paint?

[B17NNS]

What about a spray on textured coating like tyrolean or similar?

[King Herald]

Nobby Diesel said:

If you want to render over paint, just remember that your render is keying onto paint. If the paint is not keyed to the blocks well, you have trouble ahead.
A thorough jet wash at close quaters will loosen and remove any loose paint. After that, your render should be fine.
Expamet is an option, but is probably "belts and braces"

I fear it is in there for the duration, as it sucked it up like a sponge when I applied it with the roller. Fair hoovered it in.

robinhood21 said:

How about re-coating with a textured paint?

B17NNS said:

What about a spray on textured coating like tyrolean or similar?

Good point. That might solve the problem in one fell swoop. I did e mail one such company last year about giving a quote, but they never bothered to reply. I may investigate further. I could do some more pointing before they applied it, fill a few more small irregularities.

[AlexanderV8]

King Herald said:

AlexanderV8 said:

That's a good garage with an impressive roof overhang. If you want to make it more appealing, I'd definitely go the timber route - tongue & grooved for the twee Swiss chalet look, or 7.5" weatherboarding for the barn style. I'd go for the barn style as you've already got timber doors in keeping and then stain it dark. You might need to replace the windows though as cutting the timber around those staggered ones will be a right pain (no pun intended!).

I don't want to spend any more than necessary to make it look the part. Timber cladding would be getting up there in price if I did all four sides, but I'll look into prices. Plus it'll help insulate a little I guess.

And yes, the windows have turned out to be more of a pain that I ever thought. They're great from the inside though, spreading light all over the shop, but still stopping nosy people seeing what is inside.

Unless you want to impress the squirrels and birds in the trees behind and the neighbours on the right, it doesn't look like you need to do the back or the right. You could just paint those sides to match the stain. When you look at the size of the doors etc., you actually don't need that much wood. The bigger problem would be replacing the staggered glass with a lintel and obscured glass window beneath.

[V12Les]

Apply Unibond (blue tub, not red) and render on that, follow the instructions and it will stick. Make the first coat a thin scratch coat and you'll be fine.
Not sure if i'd recomend this to a diy'er but add a couple of hand fulls of Hardwall to the scratch coat mix, it will make it a little stickier and set it off that bit quicker. Apply the second coat as normal, with waterproofer.

[King Herald]

AlexanderV8 said:

Unless you want to impress the squirrels and birds in the trees behind and the neighbours on the right, it doesn't look like you need to do the back or the right. You could just paint those sides to match the stain. When you look at the size of the doors etc. you actually don't need that much wood. The bigger problem would be replacing the staggered glass with a lintel and obscured glass window beneath.

There's actually about 15+ feet of garden hidden in the soon-to-be-removed Laurel hedge behind the garage, where daughter and I plan to build a 'secret garden' some day, so it would be nice to get the back looking good too. The far end, like you say, is a junk heap, nothing goes on behind there, might even fence it off as the dirty corner of the garden.

Removing the staggered glass would not be too hard, as there is no load above it. A swift slice with Mr Angry, the 9" angle grinder, would see the lot laying on the floor. I could then make the hole smaller, or even replace it with a square section of complete 'toilet windows'.

V12Les said:

Apply Unibond (blue tub, not red) and render on that, follow the instructions and it will stick. Make the first coat a thin scratch coat and you'll be fine.
Not sure if i'd recomend this to a diy'er but add a couple of hand fulls of Hardwall to the scratch coat mix, it will make it a little stickier and set it off that bit quicker. Apply the second coat as normal, with waterproofer.

I'd have to get someone in for that, as I know I can't apply render that looks anywhere near decent. But it sounds like there are a number of choices to cover the stuff.