Exterior Painting
Double-storey home | full exterior repaint
A weather-worn double-storey exterior stripped back, prepared and repainted in a clean two-tone scheme.
Crack & plaster repair, Cape Town & Durbanville
The crack came back because it was never the same crack.
Three cracks on one wall can have three completely different causes. Fill all three with the same tube of filler and at least two of them will be open again by the second winter, straight through your new paint.
- Based in Durbanville, working Durbanville, Aurora, Vierlanden, Eversdal, Welgemoed, Bellville, Brackenfell, Kraaifontein, Kuils River, Plattekloof, Sonstraal Heights, Panorama, Kenridge, Fisantekraal and surrounds
- WhatsApp us and we reply during office hours.
- Written scope, one fixed price for the job
Problem & approach
Where these projects go wrong, and how we handle them.
The usual problem
Crack repair is the most skipped line item on a repaint quote, and the most common reason a repaint looks a year old after one season. The quick version is a smear of acrylic filler and a coat over the top: it looks perfect on handover day and telegraphs straight back through the paint as soon as the wall moves or the sun cycles it. The reason is that nobody asked what the crack was. A fine shrinkage crack in the plaster, a movement crack running diagonally off a window or door corner, a horizontal crack at a slab or beam line, and a crack that is actually a water path are four different problems. Only one of them is a filler job. The other three need cutting out, reinforcing, sealing as a joint, or in a small number of cases an engineer rather than a painter.
Our approach
We photograph and classify every crack on the building before quoting, and the scope says what happens to each type. Shrinkage cracking gets cut out, filled with the right product and skimmed. Movement cracks get opened, filled with a flexible sealant and reinforced so the wall can keep moving without splitting the coating. Cracks that are carrying water get treated as waterproofing work in Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber, not as decoration. Hollow and drummy plaster gets hacked off and re-rendered rather than painted over. And where the pattern says structure rather than surface, we tell you to get an engineer's opinion before spending a cent on paint, because painting over a structural crack is the single most expensive way to hide a problem.
What may be included
Scope you can actually read.
The exact line items on your quote depend on the site inspection. This is the shape of what a typical project of this type includes.
- Full crack survey with photographs and each crack classified by type
- Written scope stating the repair method for each crack type on the building
- Cutting out, filling and skimming of shrinkage and plaster cracking
- Flexible sealant and reinforcement to movement cracks so they can keep moving
- Hacking off and re-rendering of hollow, drummy or delaminated plaster
- Sealing of open joints around windows, doors, copings and penetrations
- Liquid rubber treatment where a crack is carrying water rather than just cracking
- Correct primer over every repair before decoration
- Honest referral to a structural engineer where the crack pattern warrants it
Products we work with
The Systems Behind the Work.
Approved applicator and authorised reseller of Rubber Sealant® Liquid Rubber.
Our preferred paint on most projects.
We are not a Plascon approved applicator. Plascon is simply the paint we choose to specify for its quality and track record, and we will recommend a different system where a project calls for it.
Our process
9 steps from enquiry to handover.
- 1
Site inspection and photographic crack survey
- 2
Classification of each crack: shrinkage, movement, joint, water path or structural
- 3
Written scope and one fixed price for the whole job
- 4
Preparation: wash, remove failed coatings, expose the full extent of each crack
- 5
Repair to the method specified for that crack type
- 6
Re-render and make good where plaster has failed
- 7
Priming of all repairs
- 8
Decoration over a sound, dry, uniform substrate
- 9
Walk-through and photographic record of what was repaired and where
Honest limits
What we will tell you up front.
A proper contractor should be honest about what a service can and cannot do. These are the things we will always flag.
- We are painting and waterproofing contractors, not structural engineers. Where cracking suggests foundation movement, slab deflection or structural distress, we refer you rather than cover it up.
- Waterproofing is Rubber Sealant Liquid Rubber only. No torch-on, no injection damp courses.
- Repairs to plaster and coatings cannot stop a wall from moving. They allow the coating to survive the movement.
- A crack repair is only as good as the substrate around it. Where the surrounding plaster is failing, patching alone is a waste of money and we will say so.
Not sure what your exterior crack & plaster repair needs? Send us a photo.
Take one photo on your phone, send it on WhatsApp, and we will tell you what we are looking at. We are in Durbanville most weeks, so a site visit is easy to arrange.
WhatsApp a photoFAQ
Exterior Crack & Plaster Repair: questions we hear
Budgeting
Want the numbers before you phone anyone?
We publish real Cape Town rates, including our own, and explain exactly what a cheaper quote leaves out.
Exterior Painting
Single-storey home | exterior and trim
Walls, fascias and trim brought back to a crisp finish, with cracks treated before any coating went on.
Roof Painting
Tiled roof | cleaned and coated
Tiles cleaned down, ridges checked and re-bedded where needed, then coated with a specified roof system.
Keep reading
The pages our Durbanville clients read before they phone us.
Start here
- Painters in DurbanvilleWhat we charge, how we scope it, and why the cheap quote was never cheaper.
- Asbestos roof: seal it or remove it?The honest cost comparison nobody publishes.
Durbanville, service by service
- Roof waterproofing in Durbanville
- Damp proofing in Durbanville
- Exterior painting in Durbanville
- Interior painting in Durbanville
- Asbestos roof encapsulation in Durbanville
- Complex and body corporate repaints in Durbanville
Where we work
- Painters & waterproofing in DurbanvilleWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in AuroraWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in VierlandenWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in EversdalWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in WelgemoedWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in BellvilleWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in BrackenfellWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in KraaifonteinWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in Kuils RiverWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in PlattekloofWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in Sonstraal HeightsWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in PanoramaWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in KenridgeWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
- Painters & waterproofing in FisantekraalWhat the housing stock here needs, and what it costs.
Complexes, commercial & managed buildings
- Body corporate & complex repaintingA scope trustees can compare, phased block by block.
- Commercial & retail paintingShops and offices painted after hours, never closed.
- Warehouse & industrial coatingRusted metal roofs sealed, hot workshops cooled.
- For property managers & agentsWritten scopes, fixed prices, photographs for the file.
- Wine farm & estate paintingOld lime plaster, gables and cellars, handled properly.
Business parks & work at height
- Painting in Atlas GardensWarehouses and offices done around your trading hours.
- Painting in Durbanville HillsExposed, wind driven buildings need their own specification.
- Factory & industrial paintingWater first, then steel, then walls. In that order.
- Office park & multi-tenant repaintsFloor by floor, out of hours, nobody loses a day.
- Exterior crack & plaster repairWhy the crack came back, and how it is properly fixed.
- Working at heights paintingThe compliance to demand before anyone leaves the ground.
- Scaffolding & access paintingAccess is priced per erection. Plan around that and save.
- Painting tender checklistOne page, so three quotes describe the same job.
Specialist systems
- Rubber Sealant® Liquid RubberApproved applicator and reseller: prices, coverage, colours and guarantee terms.
- Buy liquid rubber in DurbanvilleThe same drums we use, collected by arrangement.
- Liquid rubber prices, per litre and per m²Every price published, with the coverage behind it.
- Asbestos roof encapsulationSeal the sheets in place instead of paying to strip them.
- Asbestos roof coating, Cape TownWhy a R60 coating lifts and a R285 system does not.
- Asbestos roof repairStop the leak without lifting a single sheet.
- Asbestos roof sealing costReal rates and three worked roofs, arithmetic shown.
- Asbestos roofing, Cape TownWhat you actually have up there, and what to do about it.
- How long an asbestos roof lastsThe real lifespan, and how sealing extends it.
- Waterproofing & damp proofingLiquid rubber on roofs, walls and rising damp.
Commercial enquiry
Tell us about the building. We come out and survey it.
No obligation, no call centre. We walk the building, photograph what we find, and come back with a written scope and one fixed price for the whole job, with the waterproofing itemised on its own line.