Look at the wall and the ground
What it is built from, what is behind it, how it is capped and where the water goes.
What garden wall render is, and when you need it
A new patio with bare block retaining walls round it looks like a job that stopped halfway. Rendering them is usually the last thing on the list and the thing that makes the whole garden read as finished.
Garden walls are not house walls and they should not be treated as if they are. They are exposed on both faces, they sit on or in the ground, and they take water from above as well as below.
Why a garden wall is harder than it looks
A house wall has a roof over it, a damp course under it and a heated building behind it. A garden wall has none of those. Water gets in at the top, comes up from the ground and sits in the wall through a Scottish winter.
So the build up has to tolerate that, and the top of the wall has to be capped or coped so the water is not simply pouring in. A render that stops at the top edge with nothing over it is the usual reason a garden wall looks ruined after two winters.
Matching the house or standing apart
A rendered garden wall can be finished to match the house, which ties the plot together, or deliberately in a different colour so the planting and the paving read against it.
Both are fine. What is not fine is matching it by accident and ending up nearly the same, which always looks like a mistake.
Retaining walls
A wall holding ground back has water behind it all the time and needs to be able to let it out. Drainage behind a retaining wall is the builder's job and it has to be right before any render goes on the front of it.
If you are having the wall built as well as rendered, tell us early and we will talk to whoever is building it.
How we do it
Start to finish
Prepare
Blockwork cleaned off, beads set, and the base detail worked out so the render is not sitting in the ground.
Backing coat
Levelling coat on both faces where both are on show.
Finish coat
Render or dash to match the house or to the colour you have chosen.
Cap and clean off
The top detail finished so water runs off rather than into the wall.
Three ways to start
Ring, message, or send the details
Ring 07501 844432
You get Fraser. Tell him the wall and he will tell you what it probably needs.
Call nowSend a photo on WhatsApp
A photograph of the wall tells us more than a paragraph of description can.
Open WhatsAppSend us the details
Fill the form in at the bottom of this page with a photo or two and we will come back to you.
Go to the formPast work
Garden wall render jobs we have done
Garden retaining walls rendered round a new patio
Garden wall render
Straight answers
Questions about garden wall render
Can you render a wall that is already built?
Yes, as long as it is sound and the top of it is dealt with. We will tell you if we think the wall itself is the problem rather than the finish on it.
Will it match the house?
It can, and on most plots that is what people want. Bring us the house and the wall in the same visit and we will quote them together.
What about the top of the wall?
It needs something over it: a coping, a capping or a render detail that sheds water. A flat render top with nothing on it is the main reason garden walls look tired so fast.
Get in touch
Get a price for your garden walls
Tell us what the wall or the room looks like now and we will come back to you with a price and a straight answer about what it needs.
Call us for your instant, no obligation quote
07501 844432. Or send a photo of the wall on WhatsApp.