Trowel & Roller exterior wall coatings Vs. Spray Applied external coatings

In this article we look at the two main types of resin based exterior protective wall coatings; those that are applied by trowel and roller, such as through render, and those applied by a spray machine.

There is a third type of exterior coatings known as through render or coloured render, but as this is render based and not a coating over the top of traditional or lime render, we have not included it in this discussion, although it is worth noting its existence.

What is definition of a wall coating?

A wall coating, or wall coating, is fairly self explanatory; it is a coating, film or covering, over a hard substrate, for example the wall of a house. Wall coatings can be used internally and/or externally, and most products are designed for specific uses, such as wallcoatings for brick or rendered walls, or wallcoatings that repel damp, special long life wall coating systems, moisture and waterproof coatings, being good examples.

Some wallcoatings are purely decorative and offer little or no protection from the weather, normal paint being a prime example. A wall coating therefore is NOT the actual surface, but a product or solution designed to protect the surface, and whatever is underneath it.

So, if you are considering choosing a wall coating, which one should you go for?

The benefits of both exterior wall coating systems.

The 2 main wall coating systems used in the UK, trowel and roller applied, AND spray applied exterior textured masonry wall coatings, have many features and benefits that prove themselves a good value and long term option for the exterior walls of your home. The outside of your house has to withstand all weathers, depending on where you live of course.

Houses in sunnier climates like Spain, are built to withstand the sometimes searing heat in the summer, and on the flip side, houses in the United Kingdom are often built to withstand rain, wind, cold ,…. more rain…………….a bit more rain…………….and so on. As mother nature throws all that she can against our house, we need to know that not only IT (the house) is protected, we also need reassurance that WE are protected from whatever is going on outside too!

Most exterior wall finishes on houses today, including tyrolean, brick, exterior masonry wall paint, render, pebbledash and so on, are quite weak and in most cases, only provide rudimentary protection for your home, and most if not all, only last a few years.

One of the biggest reasons to consider buying an exterior coating is that your house, even if its in a right old state, it will look MUCH better, will be free of defects, and also will make the property much easier to sell, once the housing market picks up again. NPA has personally refurbished some properties that were in an atrocious state; houses that painters and decorators, AND general builders simply walked away from as it was too challenging! Well, we at NPA love a challenge (!) and one look at some of our past exterior house refurbishment projects, we hope that you would agree with us!

Textured exterior wallcoatings are suitable for MOST but not all homes of a traditional construction. They protect your home from constant attack from the elements, and also afford a belt and braces level of protection for the structure of your home too, so no more loose and cracking render, and the best bit……….

………..You don’t have to paint the outside of your home for up to 25 years!

All wall coating systems are covered by a guarantee, due to their very nature, and this should cover you against the coating fading, chipping, cracking or peeling, things that almost never happen, unless the coating has not been applied correctly. The guarantee can also be a good selling point if you are planning to move, as it is fully transferable to the new owners.

It is very important to choose an established reputable company to install ANY textured wall covering on the outside of your home and more articles can be found elsewhere on this website to help you avoid the pitfalls of getting virtually any work done on your home, with inside, expert advice from a pro!

Trowel applied exterior wall coatings

Trowel applied exterior wallcoatings in the UK are usually based around the same system or concept depending on which company you choose. The coating they apply seems to be a type of acrylic render, usually pre-coloured and applied in a similar fashion to traditional sand and cement or lime based render, insofar as the same tools are used and in some cases, a similar thickness of coating is applied to the wall. It often goes hard and brittle over time.

It is also very difficult to perform patch repairs, if for example, the coating is damaged by a car, or something hitting the wall.

Once the coating is applied, it is then stippled by the use of a roller, with the operative making downward motions on the wall, with the roller, to achieve a stipple finish. Trowel applied exterior coatings usually end up being of a finish similar to tree bark. Some trowel and roller wall coating companies apply a thick mesh to the wall before applying the coating, probably for better adhesion of the wall coating to the wall.

WARNING!: Some trowel and render exterior wall coating firms recommend ripping off your old render or pebbledash before they apply their coating. Be warned.

If the existing wall surface on your house is in good order and is firmly adhered to the walls, they can damage the bricks underneath and rip out mortar joints if they remove your render. This is actually ATTACKING and DAMAGING your home, before they have even started!!

The recommended way to apply a GRC coloured render wall coating is to affix a mesh to the wall, before applying the render coating.

While from a distance, these wall coating jobs often look good, its when you get up close and take a look at the stipple effect texture, it sometimes looks unsightly, especially if the coating is not in character with the house.

Many new build properties in the UK have the application of a trowel applied exterior textured coating by the developer, usually by cheap labour and untrained painters and decorators, and even I have to admit that it often looks quite pleasing, but again, this is related to NEW houses.

If you would like advice and information about Spray applied exterior wall coatings then call us FREE on 0800 970 4928

One advantage over spray applied, from an application point of view, is that the doors and windows do not need to be masked up and covered with brown paper during application. Trowel applied wallcoatings are also sometimes better than spray applied in covering up EXTREME defects on the wall as the coating is usually thicker than the spray applied version, but again, its all down to personal taste, and whether the coating finish is suitable and does not spoil the character of a house.

So do exterior wallcoatings companies apply trowel applied textured coatings on properties that may not be suitable?

You bet!

The problem with some of the larger exterior textured coating companies is that they will do ANYTHING to get a sale, and yes, that even means recommending a trowel applied coating on a house that it is not suited to!

One Protective coatings company in the UK who I cannot mention for legal reasons, are well known for over selling their coatings to frail, lonely old age pensioners at sky high prices. A certain spray applied texture coatings company were also well known for this and appeared on rogue traders (twice). Again, I cannot say who! They disrespectfully refer to these customers as “frosties”, although quite why I dont know.

They are also famous for the 4 or 5 hour Wall Coatings sales pitch. Just search on the internet on consumer review websites and you’ll find out who I refer to. Their sales method is known as “getting the camping gear out”, which loosely means they stay until they get a sale or are kicked out, even if it is 2 am, and yes there have been cases when salesmen from this trowel and roller applied coating company have done this.

The 2 particular companies I refer to are AT LEAST double, sometimes 3 times the cost of spray applied exterior coatings and they make a lot of money by selling the work on finance packages, often getting a nice backhander for doing so, from the finance company. These types of coatings firms are more interested in selling the finance than the coatings.

The editor of this website has noted various properties (Victorian and Edwardian) in his own area that look truly AWFUL after a trowel and roller coating company has applied their coating to the house, hiding architectural details and taking all character away from the house.

..and I really mean hideous! Dont get me wrong, the wall coatings I have observed have generally been a good standard of application, but what on EARTH were the customers thinking of? I would compare this lack of taste and foresight to the craze during the 1980s of having stone cladding installed on a house.

Are trowel and roller coatings more expensive than spray applied exterior coatings?

In many cases yes they are, the trowel system is usually more expensive, but not always, and it is worth obtaining quotations for both systems to be applied to your home, to get a better idea of what you the customer want and need, and also whether the particular coating will suit your home, but remember, dont fall prey to the high pressure salesmen!

Take your time to choose, in your own time, and then call each company back and tell them if you will be placing an order or not, and be honest, feedback really does help, and the professional coating company will be only to happy to take that advice on board.

NOTE: REMEMBER IF YOUR HOUSE IS A LISTED BUILDING OR IN A CONSERVATION AREA, NEITHER COATING SYSTEMS MAY BE SUITABLE AND YOU MAY BE BREAKING THE LAW IN HAVING THE WORK DONE, and would have to pay to have it removed, which can be more expensive than putting it on in the 1st place. If in doubt, contact the land registry and/or your local council.

Spray applied exterior wallcoatings.

The other main exterior textured wall coating system that is popular in the UK is spray applied exterior coatings, which is what NPA (this site) specialises in.

All repairs have to be carried out before a spray applied exterior textured coating can be installed on your home. Reputable contractors will ALWAYS do this, however there are just as many bad firms around so be careful and check references and previous work to be sure. Size is also not an issue as many of the larger texture coating firms have gone bust, weighted down with the sheer volume of callbacks, guarantee work and service calls on previously installed bad work. (This applies to both systems)

Spray applied wallcoatings are in some ways far more versatile that trowel applied render based systems and are suitable for a far wider range of houses and commercial buildings.

This type of exterior texture coating can be seen on many buildings around the world, both commercial and residential and the editor has surveyed many properties around the UK, in Gibraltar, in Spain, Portugal, Malta and the USA that have had a spray applied coating installed.

Spray applied external weatherproof wall coatings are most suitable for a wide range of buildings and the finish ranges from smooth (matt), fine textured, medium and then coarse grade coatings.

Call us on 0800 970 4928 for info.

One slight disadvantage is that application is sometimes noisier as a machine has to be used, and also the fact that all doors and windows have to be masked up, but again, this is only ever temporary, and the finished results are often far superior to the rough tree bark stipple paint finish of trowel and roller applied coatings

And what about the guarantee?

A guarantee is by far one of the most enticing reasons to choose a protective wall coating on your house, not just from a peace of mind point of view either. It is worth noting though that one should only choose a reputable company who can prove how good their work is. Any good wall coating company will make sure their teams install weatherproof coating to the highest standard, or else they will find out that coming back to fix job and after job soon takes its toll on both cashflow and reputation.

When having home improvements done, it is often good practice, as we have seen elsewhere on the site, to pay a deposit to the contractor, often for materials, especially if they are being custom made for the job. Some companies, including NPA, offer insurance backed guarantees and we would recommend taking out one of these very reasonable policies for your peace of mind.

In summary

So in summary, there are good and bad points to watch out for with either wall coating system, but a lot of it still comes down to how credible the company doing the work really is and also whether your home is suitable for the exterior wall finish they offer you. It is perfectly normal to be very wary if they contacted you out of the blue, instead of you looking for them, so do some research online!

(in fact as I was typing this, I had to stop as I had a telesales call come through to my phone! AAAARGH! They are so annoying!)

If you had to be pressured into making a deal with them, after the salesman has stayed 4 hours talking your ears off, would you have chosen them if you had simply looked through an online catalogue in your own time, contacted them in your own time, got the quote in your own time, and had the work done when it suited you, not them??

NPA are happy to run through the pros and cons of each system with you, and to give advice on wall coatings.

We will survey the outside of your home, completely free of charge, upon request. We can even give you a price for the work, on the spot, with no catches, no pressure and no hidden charges!

In some cases, NPA are also very flexible and unlike other coating companies, many of our authorised dealers offer additional services, such as UPVC doors and windows, UPVC gutters, fascias and downpipes, and traditional painting and decorating to finish a job off. We aim to provide a Holistic home improvement service whereby we take care of all issues related to the outside of your house, shop or office building, and when we finish the work, you do not have to repair, fix, repaint or replace anything at all for at least 20 years!

For more info, go to the CONTACT page and complete the form, or call us FREE today on (0800) 970 4928.

The NPA system is available in the UK, Ireland, Ulster, Spain and Gibraltar through a network of dedicated, authorised dealers.

THE ABOVE IS COPYRIGHT G. BELL 2009. DO NOT COPY OR REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE.

NPA makes no direct or specific reference to any other textured coatings company by name within this article. We would love to include the names of the various companies who offer trowel and roller UK wallcoatings, but knowing some of the sharks in this industry, & the fact that many of them are hopping mad that NPA has made a success of promoting coatings online (when they all said it would never work), they would probably take offence, so rather than give them free advertising, we have declined to name them.

The choice is YOURS, not ours!

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