There are some very important factors to take into account when you are looking to paint or decorate the exterior walls of your listed or historic building.
These factors include the type of materials used in the building, the age of the building, and the expected weather conditions.
In this article, I will explore some of these issues, as well as offering advice on choosing the right company to carry out exterior work.
We offer a full range of exterior wall coating solutions for listed and historic buildings.
- Full project management
- Liaising with local authorities
- Risk management and assessments
- Environmental impact studies
- Fully licensed and insured
- Extensive experience
- Damp proofing wall coatings
- Invisible insulation systems
- Masonry repair using traditional methods and materials
- Repair or replace of render, pebbledash, stucco and brickwork repair
- Relevant refences available
- Fully compliant with UK building regs.
- Architect approved materials and methods
Essential information on keeping your listed building weatherproof and in good condition.
If you are lucky enough to live in one of the UK’s many historic homes, it is likely, but not always, to be listed.
A building is listed when it is of special architectural or historic interest considered to be of national importance and therefore worth protecting. Source: Historic England.
They go on to define the classifications of Listed buildings, which come in three categories of ‘significance’:
- Grade I for buildings of the highest significance
- Grade II* and
- Grade II
Scotland has it’s own separate but similar way of categorising listed buildings.
In Wales, this is administered by CADW and enforces the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and generally mirrors the English classifications
Most listed building owners are likely to live in a Grade II building as these make up 92% of all listed buildings they say.
Not all historic homes are listed but that does not mean they are not of historical or architectural interest, having a building listed adds many layers of rules, regulations and bureaucracy, and many owners of very old homes try and avoid that hassle.
That does not mean that these owners do not look after their homes, but regardless of listed or not, it is very important to keep a bit of our country’s history in good condition for future generations.
Any exterior work to the walls of a listed building must be taken seriously or not at all.
As an owner of a listed building it is your duty by law to keep it in good order, or else you may find yourself with a hefty fine and an enforcement notice.
The biggest threat to your listed building comes from outside.
The upkeep of a listed building, depending on its size, can be time consuming, laborious and expensive and if you ever need to call in a tradesman or contractor it is vitally important they have knowledge and expertise in working on listed buildings.
If not you can be letting yourself in for a whole load of trouble with your local council, who are responsible for overseeing works to listed buildings and the preservation of the built environment.
Any works that are considered “major” such as alterations, must be approved, if not you can actually be breaking the law and opening yourself up to huge fines, plus an enforcement notice to put the job right.
Some people can “get away” with making changes to the interior and it is highly unlikely that a building inspector will ever find out, but its a risk, especially if the interior is of high importance in the listing category and you’ve removed or ruined something you should not have touched.
The biggest threat to the fabric and overall resilience of your listed building comes from outside, from weather events, such as snow or torrential rain, which can cause damp and mould and rotting timbers, which can be unpleasant but also expensive to rectify.
This is why the exterior of your house is so important. It is not only the showpiece of the building, but it has an essential function, as it has done for hundreds of years, to keep the weather at bay.
But what if it is not doing that anymore? What if you can spot problems and don’t know what to do about it?
Rest assured, we have experience since the 1980’s in working on listed buildings and our teams are master builders in their own right.
A good, durable and weatherproof exterior wall coating is essential to protect your home from the harmful elements. You can choose between clear and coloured façade wall coatings.
Typically, exterior wall coatings are applied in combination with other coats, but they can be used on other surfaces as well. In addition, it can enhance the look and value of your property.
Whether you need to repair your property or add some new features to it, a good exterior wall coating can help.
By selecting the right one, you can ensure that your building is able to stand up to the harshest conditions and stay looking its best. Also, it can significantly reduce your energy bills.
Repairs to your listed building.
As a responsible contractor, and listed building refurbishment experts, we take a huge amount of care in any work we do.
If the local council needs to be notified that works are taking place, we provide a full project management with each job and would liaise with the authorities to satisfy them the work is not only lawful, but sympathetic.
Repainting the exterior does not always need planning permission, especially if the overall appearance is not going to change. For example if your house is painted white, and has been for the past 400 years, then that is the colour we will paint it!
If your listed building is being painted for the first time, and the walls are, for example, currently bare render and maybe causing issues then yes you WILL need planning permission. This is also the case of you plan to change the colour, which is often refused.
In most cases, this only applies to our coloured exterior wall coatings, but in those cases we do check with your local council before proceeding with the work.
As a general rule of thumb, if painting the outside of your listed building will not alter the current appearance in any way then usually you do not need permission to have it repainted.
Any repairs needed to the exterior render must be done using traditional methods, with traditional materials, which is what we do.
“Which exterior wall coating is suitable for my listed building?”
The key here is to not significantly change the appearance of your listed building.
Our coloured exterior wall coatings are available in a variety of colours, although we can mix up custom colours if required.
They are guaranteed for 20 years to NOT fade, crack, chip or peel, and will stop all instances of penetrating damp and mould. They are suitable for homes built of brick, stone and render, but NOT cob/earth walls.
A more fitting protective and weatherproof exterior wall coating, one that offers superior protection and does not alter the look of your listed house in anyway, is ProPerla, which is a clear wall coating which not only provides weatherproofing for the exterior walls, but also offers insulation, to lower heating bills. It is approved by the Energy Saving trust also.
If you are unsure as to which wall coating system is suitable for your home, please do contact us on 0800 970 4928 for an initial discussion.
Examples of listed buildings we have renovated over the years.
The proof of the pudding, etc, so here to burnish our credentials are some listed buildings we have worked on over the years. Most of the photos here can be clicked to read more about the project, with more photos of the work carried out by our listed building team.
A medieval grade 1 listed Tudor gatehouse
The above building had terrible dampness which was coming in through the old and porous stonework, damaging the interior walls. We repaired the mortar joins (pointing) and spray applied a clear weatherproof wall coating.
We renovated the old home of Mr. Ismay, from the white star line (Titanic)
Render and repaint for an old fisherman’s cottage, Cornwall.
Complete renovation of grade 2 listed former mill, Northamptonshire
Rendering and paint renovation of historic manor house in Cornwall, mentioned in the Domesday book.
Grade 2 listed former Vicarage/Manse, Warwickshire
Important Arts and Crafts house, Cardiff, Wales
We have hundreds more examples of our preservation work on listed buildings, so please feel free, if this is not enough (!) to browse previous wall coating projects.
Get in contact with us for a free listed building works consultation.
Being an owner of a listed building can be a joy and a headache at the same time so let us shoulder your burden, by renovating the exterior and applying a weatherproof exterior wall coating, which comes with a 20 year guarantee.
You can call us, 6 days a week, on 0800 970 4928 or send us an email by clicking here.
We look ahead to finding out how we can help you this year.