Plastering & Rendering in Bude

Bude sits directly on the Atlantic coast, which means its properties face some of the toughest weather conditions in England. Salt-laden wind, driving rain for much of the year, and the freeze-thaw cycles that come with a coastal maritime climate — standard cement render doesn't last long here.

We've been working on Bude properties for years, and the single most common job we do in the town is re-rendering homes where the old cement render has cracked, blown, or started allowing water in. Once a render fails on a coastal property, the damage accelerates quickly — water gets behind the render, freezes in winter, and the render starts coming off in chunks.

For most Bude properties, we recommend silicone render. The hydrophobic surface means rainwater beads off rather than being absorbed, it stays cleaner for longer, and the flexible formula can handle the minor movement that comes with a building settling through coastal weather. On newer extensions and blockwork, monocouche is often the right call — it's a solid, through-coloured system that requires zero maintenance.

The town has a really varied property stock. There are Victorian and Edwardian terraces near the centre, post-war semis and bungalows in the estates, newer builds on the edges, and converted farmhouses in the surrounding lanes. Each type has different substrate requirements — old stone and cob walls need breathable render systems; new blockwork is fine with polymer-based renders. We assess every job on its own merits before recommending a system.

The exposed parts of town — Flexbury, Crooklets, anywhere with a clear line to the sea — get the worst of it. South-westerly gales drive horizontal rain straight onto the render, and the salt content is high enough that cheap render can fail in under a decade. On these properties we'll always specify a premium silicone system with a properly bedded mesh and a generous overlap on the basecoat. Doing it right once is cheaper than doing it twice.