Preparing exterior walls for painting

the best way is to read the relevant literature with the paint. Generally if the wall is sound, previously painted areas , if any are also sound and free from growth such as moss then several coats of the masonry paint is the best. By several I mean whatever the manufacturer recommends depending on the colour chosen and what the colour is you are painting over. Stabiliser is only needed when the surface you are applying it to is poo, flaking or very dusty. On a new rendered surface I would just use 2 (or perhaps 3) coats of a quality masonry paint

My DIY / semi pro head opinion - yes, expensive stabiliser. My hands on opinion - one coat sandtex masonary paint..

Have been painting the outside of my house several months ago. It talked about weathered areas need stabilised...For the first time in my life ( mainly due to time constraints ) I slapped on the sandtex without undertaking " proper " prep..Suffice to say 3 months on, its not flaked, fallen off and still looks great..Perhaps I've just been lucky but I suspect the old coat would have to be pretty shoddy if stabiliser would be needed..

Give it a try on a small area first!

Here I got paint falling off, dirt and welded-on plant growth on the wall. Screwfix stabiliser is £22 a gallon, and they got several types of masonry paint, including one at 18 a gallon that says it does its own stabilising as well. Would that be the one to go for?

BTW I did some painting last year with their £11 water based masonry paint, and its already falling off. It was a real quickie job and I did minimum prep.

Any gurulike advice appreciated.

Regards, NT

Pliolite masonry paints stick like s*it to a blanket.

"stuart noble"

You hardly notice the smell outdoors. Johnstones had magnolia on special recently if you have a supplier locally.

Thanks - it's supposed to be a nice day so I am going for the masonry paint with no other prep as my small test area seems prety well sound. Thanks for advice