Wethacote: any experience, anyone?

[long ironer]

From a flyer which arrived either with the post or else it fell out of

a magazine or newspaper:

Wethacote 'never paint again' applies, judging by the pictures, a Tyrollean-like finish to house walls & offers a 20 year guarantee. Web site is

Web site description: WethAcote is a highly decorative and protective coating, formulated to give an asbestos free system that offers long term durability. A high quality alkyd resin is blended with a special plasticiser, titanium and iron oxide to give excellent hiding power and pigmentation. Reinforcing fibres and extenders provide the toughness and textured finish that enables the coating to withstand the elements.

How well does it work, how long has it been going & is it really likely to last the 20 years?

Are there any competing products which are all but the same?

[Chris Bacon]

It's a thick coating applied over whatever's already there. If what's there is in poor condition, it will be dealt with before the stuff is applied. Sounds good, doesn't it?

IIRC a chap came round to give a sales talk. He had an apparatus to demonstrate that water couldn't get through the coating, but air could. Hmm. I think he expected me to be impressed by this "magic" - a perspex tube with a coated air-permeable bung in it, halfway along. The bottom had a squeezy bulb, the top was filled with tap water. The water didn't trickle through the wethacote (IIRC that was the stuff). Air bubbled up through the water when the bulb was squeezed.

It may work well. It may well last 20 years, but what happens at the end of that time, I wonder?

N.B. the decorative effect is *NOT* AFAIK guaranteed! What will the actual finish look like after 20 years? Is it still guaranteed if overpainted?

Highly likely IMO.

[Andy R]

After being made redundant from a job 15 years ago I flogged this stuff (or something very similar) for a while. Although it was high pressure selling the firm I worked for did a good job. I regularly drive past some of the jobs I sold back then and they still look decent with no signs of subsequent repair. You can seal it with unibond or something and paint it if you want but it defeats the point somewhat and wrecks its ability to pass air through it.. If you've got a rendered house that's looking grotty and needs some repairs then this will get the job done and it should last well. If I wanted it myself I'd get other quotes though, the commission the salesman gets is a lot of what you're paying.

Rgds

Andy R

[Phil Anthropist]

My neighbour in the adjoining two-storey 3-bed semi-detached house had this done about 20 years ago. I don't know if it was the Wethacote brand but it was the same spray-on process used by Wethacote. The finish is still structurally sound, even on the row of bricks below the damp course which isn't usually covered by the guarantee.Unfortunately, my neighbour chose pink for the walls and white for the window sills, which soon became dirty pink and white. This has spoilt the appearance of what used to be two attractive Victorian houses, mine still with the traditional brick walls and his with a dirty pink and white textured wall coating. It is supposed to be 'never paint again', so does that mean washing the walls if they become dirty? Based on that, I would be confident about the durability but I would be concerned about the future decorative appearance. It is one thing to spray this stuff on a detached property but I would like to see planning restrictions for semi-detached and terraced properties. Regarding competing products, there are lots, just Google for textured wall coating.

[Oddjobboy]

I'd be interested to know if they can prove the air-permeability lasts the 20 years. I'd have thought the build up of dirt particles over time would block any pores possibly leaving you with a potential damp problem that's more likely to creap around inside the wall. I have no personal experience of this, but I'm also in need of something to tidy up the front of the house and discounted the spray-on resin coats because of this concern.

[Andy R]

The surface of the stuff I used to sell was designed to continually break down therefore staying decent looking and retaining permability.

Rgds

Andy R

[The Natural Philosopher]

Haha. I have a tyrolean finished garage, originally white, which just when a dirty green form dust and algae. A pressure washer does clean it..but we simply painted it. Using a brush to get in the cracks. Bugger of a job.

Based on that, I would be confident about the durability but I would

[Chris Bacon]

AOL AOL AOL Some sort of restrictions, anyway. A terrace done in all sorts of finishes and colours, with different windows and doors, can be a real eyesore.

[John Rumm]

I know someone who had it done on her place about ten years ago. Still structurally sound, but looks dirty. White windowsills are now grey and the pale blue a sort of grey blue.

So "never paint again" seems to mean it won't flake or fall off, and as long as you don't actually care about what it looks like it will be fine!