Painting pebbledash exterior walls

[clueless_pau]

Total Novice here..

I have a 30s built semi with a pebbledashed exterior.. currently unpainted.

I feel I have to paint it as the new rendering around replacement windows is totally different and looks very odd.

How should I attempt to paint the pebbledash?

With a good old brush?

Roller?

Spray gun (hire or buy)?

Do I need to prime?

Or should I get the experts in?

If so how much would it cost (3 bed 30s semi in South London/Surrey borders)?

Like I said, total novice..on a limited budget.

Thanks very much for any advice you can give.

[gucciman]

its certainly easier getting the experts in but also very expensive.

no need to prime the exterior pebble dash, just paint over it with a good quality exterior masonry paint from one of the big manufacturers, dulux, crown, sandtex etc, the walls are already textured so make sure you buy a normal untextured coating. firstly though, make sure the pebbledash is in good order and not flaking off, otherwise it may need completely stripping and re-coated.

the difficulty in coating pebbledash is that it is hard to get the paint into the gaps between the aggregate. a roller will probably not work. a brush would be good if you use a dabbing motion but this will take a long time. the pros would probably spray it on, this is the quickest method and would give a very good finish if your competent with a spray-gun. you can hire sprayguns and compressors at most good tool hire shops. get the shop to show you how to set the gun up and use it and then have a little practice on some scrap wood.

you may have to apply 2 coats though to get a good even finish, depends on how good the paint is.

and a word of warning from someone who works for a paint manufacturer. dont bother with the door to door companies who claim they can coat your house in a wonder coating that lasts 20 years. its just normal exterior masonry paint, they just charge the earth for it and to apply it.

[Toureman]

Hi,

Very good answer above but I would reccomend DIY for cost reasons and doing the job properly, I use the Brush method on mine it is,nt easy and takes quite a while but don't forget if you use a spray gun you would have to mask all areas you do not want painting, this would take some time to do.

[alex1alex]

Most people recommend this page for advice about painting pebbledash. :) http://www.neverpaint...rolean-masonry-walls/