textured exterior emulsion - will it disguise amateurish rendering?

Question

One of the exterior walls of my house was unpainted rendering, and since it was originally done, some different-sized windows have been installed, so there was quite a bit of patchiness to the rendering, i.e., you could see where one bit of rendering had joined up with another. And, frankly, even the continuous areas were not expertly done. Trowel marks can be seen here and there.

I mistakenly assumed that after I applied a couple of coats of exterior emulsion, it would all look a lot better. It did - but not half as much as I'd hoped.

Even after painting, the amateurish quality of the rendering still shows, and especially when the sun is shining from the side, because all the little shadows really show up the unevenness.

I'm sure that a coat of pebble dash of some kind would be ideal, but I'm not in the market for that. Will ordinary textured emulsion improve the look significantly?

Is it possible to make one's own textured emulsion by adding sharp sand (or something) to regular exterior emulsion?

Thank you,

Al

Owain · Accepted Answer

I wouldn't think so.Some trellis over the worst bits?Owain

AL_n · Answer

Owain  wrote innews:             Thanks for the suggestion, but the bad bits are everywhere. I think some thick textured emulsion would be an improvement. has anyone tried mixing sharp sand with smooth exterior emulsion to add a texture? Is that feasaable?Al

Dave Liquorice · Answer

Well you can but there are quite large bits in sharp sand that may well fall off the wall after a bit of weathering making holes or weak spots in the paint film. Always assuming the paint will stick 'em there in the first place.

TBH matching textures is pretty much impossible.

Cash · Answer

Al,Have a look at the textured Sandtex range here:  is not the cheapest product, but if you follow the instructions and properly prepare the surface and then give the wall at least 2 finish coats (possibly 3) then that will give you the best possible results.Beware though, like all coatings, you may still see defects in the wall surface under certain light and weather conditions - but they are usually less obvious with this stuff.Cash

AL_n · Answer

"Cash"  wrote innews:             Thanks. Does anyone know what Sandtex & Co. uses to add the texture to their paint? Is it merely sand? If so, I will buy smooth and add my own sand, thereby saving ££'s. I don't need to match textures, so that's not an issue.Al

textured exterior emulsion - will it disguise amateurish rendering?

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