What is it they say … a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

If you stop and think about that, it perfectly sums up the idea of why it’s important to repair external rendering on a building, especially a heritage one. Any section that needs repair work carried out will naturally be the first ‘weak’ spot where water gets in and once that’s in, the damage can be disastrous. Rendering isn’t just decorative, it’s a vitally important, protective outer layer for any heritage building.

With that in mind, building owners should never fall into the trap of thinking that small sections of minor damage to external render are fine to leave, they’re not. Whatever is small today, will undoubtedly get bigger with every week and month that passes by and as that progressive damage increases, so will the cost of repair.

But if you ask the question, ‘how to repair rendering’ on the outside of a property, then the simple answer is, you get in contact with us at Leyden.

External render really isn’t something that you should tackle yourself. Whatever repair is undertaken not only needs to do its primary job of offering protection, but it also needs to work aesthetically at the same time. The ‘new’ needs to match the ‘old’ just so that it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb on the side of your property.

Important decorative features such as stucco sections, pargeting or ashlar lines may need to be worked around or in fact repaired themselves as part of a wider job and this means that it really isn’t DIY territory. It’s about serious craftsmanship, the sort that we bring to the table at Leyden.

The best way to think about render is like an outside shell. Yes, it looks nice and finishes everything off, but more important it protects what’s inside from everything that the outside can throw at it.

At Leyden we consider ourselves to be experts when it comes to renders, hand-crafted pointing, lime plasters and decorative features. We pride ourselves on our craftsmanship and we love the fact that we’ve done our bit in the restoration and preservation of some of the South West’s most beautiful buildings.

So, if you’d like to know more about lime finishes and repairs to your external walls, then get in contact with us at Leyden on hello@leydensw.co.uk, we are after-all, serious about craftsmanship.

Matt & Hannah