What to check at a render handover
What to check at a render handover
The handover is the moment to check that the finished render does what it should: keep water out at every edge, look even across each wall and leave the house tidy, with the information needed to repair or recoat it later. Most of the checks can be made from the ground with the scaffold down, in daylight, without touching anything at height.
On this page
Start at the bottom of the wall
Whether the job was a small repair or a whole house, begin at ground level. The render should stop on a bell-cast bead just above the damp-proof course, with the bead's kick throwing water clear of the brick below; Catnic describes its bell-cast bead for exactly that use at DPC level. Render running down over the DPC to the path or soil is a fault to look for, because it lets moisture bypass the DPC.
Check the ground beside the wall too. Paths and beds should be at least as low as they were, rubble should be cleared out of gullies and drains, and no bags of leftover render or primer tins should be left behind. On a larger commercial façade the same checks apply bay by bay, with each check marked against the elevation drawing so the record still makes sense later.
| Where to look | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Base of the wall | Bell-cast bead above the DPC, render clear of the ground |
| Sills | Projecting past the new face, with a drip underneath |
| Edges | Straight stop and corner beads, sealed against brick and frames |
| Open wall | Even texture and colour, no day-joint lines |
| Fittings | Pipes, lights and vents refitted firmly and sealed |
| Surroundings | No render or paint on glass, frames, paths or plants |
Openings, edges and fittings
Walk round each window and door. Sills should project beyond the new render face with a drip groove underneath, so water falls clear rather than running down the wall. Reveals should be crisp and even, and where render meets a frame there should be a neat bead or sealant line rather than render smeared onto the frame. Look above openings for the small drip or bell-cast detail that stops water running back.
Stop beads where render meets retained brick or stone should be straight and sealed, and corner beads should be fully covered with no metal or plastic showing. Downpipes should be back on firm brackets, vents unblocked, lights and alarm boxes refitted and sealed where their fixings pass through the render. If any item was left for another trade, note it so it is not forgotten.
Look along the face in raking light
Stand at the corner of each elevation and look along the wall, ideally in the morning or late afternoon when the light is low. A thin-coat finish should show an even grain with no lines where one day's work met the next; K Rend's TC 15 instructions ask for continuous surfaces to be completed without interruption, working to a wet edge, precisely to avoid those lines. A scraped monocouche should have one even texture and shade across each wall.
Look for hairline crazing, cracks running from window corners, patches of different colour and filled scaffold tie holes that do not match. Small marks in fresh render are easiest to put right while the materials are still on site. Remember that some finishes look slightly patchy while they are still drying, so ask whether the surface has fully cured before judging the colour.
A second look after the first spell of heavy rain is worth more than any check on a dry day. Watch where the water goes: it should bead and run off the face, drip clear from sills and the base bead, and leave no dark streaks below openings or wet patches along junctions with brick, the roof or an extension. A sill or bead that sends water down the wall shows up then, while the job is still fresh in everyone's mind.
Records to keep
Ask for the product names of every layer, the colour reference, the grain or texture and, for coatings, the batch numbers; Structherm's paint data sheet, for example, asks for one batch per elevation because shades vary between batches. Keep photographs of the stripped wall and any repairs, because they show what is behind the new surface.
Keep the official paperwork as well. If building control was involved, for example because the re-render was large enough under Approved Document L to bring in an insulation upgrade, keep its completion record. If planning permission was needed, for example because the house is in a conservation area where rendering is not permitted development, keep the decision with the house records.
Ask for the care guidance for the finish: how to clean it, what to avoid and when to think about recoating. Keep everything together, because the next person to drill the wall, move a pipe or patch a knock will need it.
For a later local defect, the repair service page explains what information helps. A good handover makes that future job easier: the materials, the date and the earlier findings are all on record instead of being reconstructed from memory.
When something is not right
Write each issue down with its location and a photograph: the left-hand sill on the rear bedroom window barely projects; the corner bead at the garage is showing; a line runs across the gable at first-floor height. Describe what you see rather than guessing the cause.
Then sort the list. Some items are simply unfinished, such as a light not refitted or masking left on a frame. Some are appearance questions, such as a patch that looks darker, which may change as the finish cures. And some are details that affect how the wall sheds water, such as a flush sill or render bridging the DPC, which deserve putting right before the scaffold is long gone. Agree who will deal with each item and when.
Related services
When the render needs attention again, the Wakefield rendering homepage explains how to tell whether it needs a local repair, a new colour or a full re-render.
Common questions
Should I climb the scaffold to inspect the render?
No. Check from the ground, from upstairs windows and from the street. If something high up needs a closer look, ask the contractor to inspect it and send photographs.
Is fine crazing on new render a defect?
Fine surface crazing can appear when render dries too quickly. It is worth recording and asking about, especially if it widens or appears alongside cracks from window corners.
Can I fix things back to the new render straight away?
Wait until the finish has fully cured, then use fixings suited to the wall behind. On an insulated wall, use the system maker's recommended fixings, because ordinary plugs will not hold in insulation boards.
See housing and planning information for Wakefield and nearby places, including the source and geography behind each figure.
