Painting over a wall that still has algae living in it is the most common reason a good paint job fails early. Twelve months on, the coat starts lifting and nobody can work out why. Here is what to do first.
The difference does not show on the day it is painted. It shows about a year later.
The wall comes up clean, the painter is happy, and the coat goes on over a surface that still has a living colony in it. The growth carries on behind the paint, pushing at the film from underneath, and the first sign anybody gets is a patch lifting on the shaded gable.
The biocide kills the organism in the surface rather than removing what sits on it, then it is left to finish working and the wall is allowed to dry properly. The coat goes onto a stable, dead surface and bonds to it the way the paint was designed to.
Our part is small, it comes first, and the timing of it matters.
Tell us the wall is being painted when you ask for the price. It changes the sequence, and it means we look at the existing coat as carefully as the growth.
The solution goes on at low pressure and is given the dwell it needs. Where the existing paint is already failing we say so, because cleaning shows that up rather than fixing it.
You get a straight answer on how long to leave it before painting, for your wall and the weather that week rather than a rule of thumb. Getting that gap right is what makes the coat last.
Ask us about any of it. Nothing here is a trade secret.
Anything sprayed on a wall runs to the bottom of it, so the ground is dealt with before the wall is touched. Planting at the base is soaked through or sheeted over, drains and gullies are covered, and we stay well away from ponds, wells and any open water. Nothing gets mixed on site. Before we go you are told how long to keep children and animals off the ground underneath. The garden matters as much to the job as the wall does.
A short read and a free check.
What is actually living in the surface of a render, why a wash leaves it there, and what that does to a paint film over the following year.
The Render Check runs through what to look for from the ground in about a minute. On a wall about to be painted it is a minute very well spent.
We cover Ferns along with Camolin, Ballycanew and Craanford, through the village and out across the farmland either side of it.
If the house is being painted it is the obvious moment to have the roof and gutters looked at as well. Everything above the wall then gets dealt with before the new coat goes on.
Usually asked by somebody who has had a coat fail early once already.
Some do and some do not, and it is worth asking directly. A wash down is standard preparation; a biocide treatment is a separate thing and it is what stops the growth carrying on behind the new coat.
It is better not to. The treatment wants time to finish working and the wall wants time to dry properly, and rushing that is the one thing that undoes the benefit. We give you a straight answer for your wall and that week's weather.
Not at the pressure we work at. Lifting paint is a force problem, not a chemical one, and the whole point of a softwash is that the wall is never asked to withstand anything. Where a coat is already failing before we arrive, we tell you, because cleaning will show that up.
Then it wants a repair before it wants a clean. Treating a cracked or blown render shows the problem up rather than solving it, and you would rather know that before you spend anything.
The treatment, the surfaces it is cleared for and what happens to the run-off are all set out on the main softwashing page.
Tell us when, and we will work back from it so the wall is ready rather than rushed.
Phone: 089-949-1525
WhatsApp: Send a couple of photos
Email: info@eireshine.ie
Send a photo and tell us roughly when. Treating first is a small cost against repainting early, and it is the part most people find out about afterwards.
Say when the painter is booked — the timing changes what we recommend.
