Facade repair in Batumi: cracks, delamination, painting

Facade repair in Batumi starts with the cause

A facade by the sea ages faster than in a dry climate: salt, downpours, sun and wind work on it all year round. But almost always the damage starts from a specific cause: a gutter leaks, a window sill has no drip, splashes from the apron hit the plinth, or the wall cannot release moisture through the paint. If you simply paint over the stains and cracks, they will show through again within a season. So facade repair on a house starts with an inspection and a search for where the water came from.

What we check during the inspection

• we tap-test the render and mark areas where it has come away from the wall;
• we photograph the cracks and look at their pattern: crazing, along joints, from window corners, through the wall;
• we check gutters, sills, window ledges and roof junctions;
• we look for spalled concrete and rusty rebar on balcony slabs and canopies;
• we check what the facade is painted with and whether the paint lets vapour through;
• on an insulated render facade we check for bulges and water in the insulation.

Fine crazing is usually superficial, from shrinkage and fast drying. Cracks along joints between concrete and masonry come from the materials moving differently. Diagonal through-cracks from window corners that keep growing can point to foundation settlement, and then you first need an engineer, not a plasterer.

How we repair render and cracks

Delaminated render is removed back to a sound substrate, the edges of the area are cut back, primed and restored with a compatible mix on mesh. Cracks are opened up, filled with a flexible repair compound and covered with reinforcing mesh extending to both sides. If more than a third of the area has come away, it is better value to strip the old render entirely and apply a new coat. How a new coat is built is described on the rendered facade page.

On old houses with lime render we repair with lime or lime-cement mixes. A dense cement patch on a lime wall holds poorly and itself becomes the cause of new delamination.

Spalled concrete and rusty rebar

On balconies, canopies and cornices by the sea, pieces of concrete often fall away and rusty rebar shows. Salt and moisture have reached the steel, and the rust expands inside the concrete. We break out the weak concrete to clean rebar, clean the steel and treat it with a corrosion inhibitor, and rebuild the profile with a concrete repair mortar. If the rebar has lost a lot of its section, the decision on the repair is made by a structural engineer.

Repairing insulated render and rainscreen facades

If an insulated render facade has bulged or cracked by the windows, the insulation underneath is often wet. Such areas are opened up, the insulation dried or replaced, and the detail redone with reinforced corners. On a rainscreen facade the repair usually concerns the fixings: tightening or replacing clips, changing broken panels, replacing rusty brackets. How to build an insulated render facade properly so this does not happen again is described on the insulated render facade page.

Painting, washing and protection

After the repair the facade is washed, treated against algae and mould, primed and painted with two coats of silicone or silicate paint. Unpainted stone, brick and concrete are protected with a water-repellent impregnation. If water came from the roof, the gutter system is put in order together with the facade. For old houses where the facade is only part of the work, see old house renovation.

How much facade repair costs

Patch repair of facade render with materials costs from 81 ₾ per m²: removing delaminated areas, primer, a new coat on mesh. Crack repair with reinforcement from 51 ₾ per linear metre, stripping old render back to the substrate from 35 ₾ per m². Painting with primer in two coats from 42 ₾, washing and algae treatment from 13 ₾, water-repellent treatment from 19 ₾ per m². Scaffolding from 18 ₾ per m² of facade. The final cost is set after inspecting the facade and agreeing the estimate.