front of manor house with new exterior wall coating

We renovated this listed ancient building in Cornwall, mentioned in the Domesday book

From time to time we get a rare insight into the history of where we work, and this huge manor house in Cornwall was no exception.

So old it was mentioned in the Domesday book, roughly around the year 1086 and instigated by William the Conqueror, England’s new King of the day.

We had to take great care when working on this home (and holiday park), and we made sure that the paints and coatings we used were approved by Cornwall county council, before we could proceed.

Our company paints the outside of all different types, styles and sizes of house up and down England and Wales, but a part of work is dedicated to preserving our listed and historic homes.

Here is why our wall coating is ideally suited to historic buildings

The big issue with owning a historic home is the fact that your house is not just a roof over your head, you are a custodian of part of this country’s history.

The main house you see now was built around 1820.

As such, great care much be taken in keeping the property in good condition for future generations.

This is the front main door of the building before work started

front of cornish manor house before wall coating work started

As you can imagine, a property of this size costs a fair bit to have painted. To give you an idea of the size of this place, it stands in 38 acres!

If you own a similar home, having the painting work done every couple of years is not only hassle you can do without, but from a financial point of view, over the years those costs mount up to a shocking figure. Money that can be spent elsewhere.

The thing is, with a listed building, you can’t ignore the fact if it needs painting, largely due to the fact that English Heritage and/or the local council will be on your back to get the work done.

In extreme cases of neglect, the owners can be taken to court and fined if they don’t keep their building in good condition.

So what could be better than having the house painted only ONCE and not have to do it again for the next 2 decades?

The house had not been painted for many years and was a sad sight if I am honest.

Here’s another view of the house before we started, showing the oldest, ancient wing.

before shot of house showing ancient wing

We had quite a job on our hands, especially as we had to deal with different exterior wall surfaces such as render, stone and brick, due to the fact the house had been updated and changed around over the past 1,000 years.

The photo above shows the oldest part of the house, on the right hand side.

The house had various problems including bubbling paintwork and large cracks

defects included cracks in the walls and bubbling paint

We have to be very careful when working on listed buildings, we can’t just get the biggest hammer out of the van and bash away at the wall (!), we need to tread carefully, finding problem areas.

These include areas such such as loose paint, hollow rendering or cracks, and then we fix them in a traditional and sympathetic way before we even open a tin of paint.

This is where we differ from your traditional painter and decorator (who would, let’s be honest, be out of their depth working on this house).

Painters PAINT and that is it, They don’t care about fixing problems like we do.

We also had to secure safe access over various fragile roofs and outbuildings, adding to the challenge

various outbuildings and roofs had to be got over before house painting could begin

We had to span various lean-to roofs, to which we used a local scaffolding company for this.

Scaffolding is only normally used by use on extremely large jobs, and where we need to span over a roof.

The owners wanted a breathable, weatherproof and durable exterior paint finish, and one that would not need to be repainted for some considerable time, so that’s exactly what they got….

A NEVER PAINT AGAIN Exterior wall coating.

In addition, the owners run a holiday lettings business at the site, which is called Rosecraddoc Manor and if you are after an enjoyable staycation in Cornwall, you can visit their website at http://www.rosecraddocmanor.co.uk/

If their glowing reviews on Tripadvisor are anything to go by, it’s somewhere definitely worth visiting.

To give you an idea of the verdant surroundings, here is a photo from the owner

lake-with-manor-house cornwall

A beautiful setting I am sure you would agree?

Just looking at the picture, you can smell the grass, the clean air wafting up your nose, you can hear the birds chirping away in the trees. Lovely!

The wall coating and renovation process explained.

The first job for our team was to inspect the wall surfaces for defects, noting areas such as cracks or hollow patches of render.

We always do this on every exterior wall painting job we do. It is one reason why our product lasts as long as it does.

We also powerwashed the building to remove patches of flaky paint.

flaking paint on manor house

The problem areas were then repaired, expertly, so much so, when the wall coating is applied, you would never know it had been repaired.

We then had to mask up all the doors and windows and lay dust sheets around the floor to ensure no mess was made when the team were at work.

As this is a listed building, the work had to be pre-approved by Cornwall County council before work could proceed. We arrange this as part of the package. We literally take care of everything.

Here is one part of the house, repaired, masked up, and primed, ready for the spraying of the top coat.

side of house masked up and with primer

It is worth noting that this is self contained holiday accommodation, and if you own a similar business, or a hotel, we have many years of experience in refurbishing hotels.

So if you are a hotelier, do in get in touch if you require a hotel or guest house painting.

Anyway, on with this project..

Once all the repairs are done, the house is masked up, and the primer is applied by hand, we set up our special spraying machine and spray the top coat onto the walls, making sure it gets into every nook and cranny, leaving the house with a weatherproof paint finish that will last over 2 decades.

Here is the same wall as above. but now weatherproofed and protected by a Wethertex wall coating

Side of manor house with new paint from wethertex wall coatings

Quite a difference to when we started on day one.

The main benefits of a NEVER PAINT AGAIN exterior wall coating.

  • The coating will last over 20 years without the need to repaint
  • Our wall coatings stop damp, both rising damp, and penetrating damp.
  • Our system does NOT fade, crack, chip or peel
  • The wall coating is self cleaning and therefore maintenance free.
  • The system comes with a 20 year guarantee.
  • The coating is resistant to all kinds of inclement weather
  • The system eliminates cold interior walls, lowering heating bills.
  • Our wall coatings are available in various pleasing textures and colours

We don’t only paint listed building of course, we are able to work (covid safe) on all manner of different buildings, some of which you can see on this website here.

Our service is availble in most areas of England and Wales via our network of accredited installation companies.

A quote is FREE and without obligation, so get in touch today and let’s have a chat.

You can call us FREE 6 days a week, on (0800) 970 4928 or you can send the team an email here

We look forward to hearing from you.

Alex

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