there is no way to sugarcoat it: the render on our walls is cracking. that’s not unexpected, but, to be honest, the render could have at least waited until the paint had dried. as it is these walls aren’t even painted yet, and our painter diplomatically suggested it would be unintelligent to paint a cracked wall. that’s not entirely what he said, but we’ll just assume that’s what he meant.
this is a consequence of building with natural materials that react to moisture, temperature and probably a few other parameters. the cracks aren’t massive either, and it’s unlikely to be the last time we see some, but we thought we’d at least get to take some glamour shots before the render comes off.
the outside actually looks a lot better. true, we have some spider cracks there as well, but they are smaller, and since the outside isn’t going to be painted it will be easier to cover them up – we are considering putting another coat of render on, once everything is properly dry.
the upside, as i found when i directed a hose onto the wall, is that the water runs off perfectly. it also unveils some funky patters, an unexpected bonus. Looks like we may get treated to this after every bigger rain event.
anyway, since none of the professionals had any better ideas. i used render without added sand to fix the gaps. i think it worked fairly well: the cracks disappeared and hopefully the high lime content in the render will have a bit more give. btw, the photo above was taken after i used a wet sponge to smooth out my work, once everything is dry it will look pretty good. bring on the lime wash!