Repairing a crack in pebbledash

[britishboy7]

Recently had a big steel fitted to the rear of the house and bifolds fitted. Since then I’ve noticed a small crack in the pebbledash on the first floor (from where the pebble dash starts to the bottom of the 1st floor window)
It’s probably only a couple of mm wide. Does it need repairing/filling? And how’s best to do it?

It’s 1930’s build, but the cracked part was probably done about 28 years ago

 

[martygturner]

You want to repair it, water getting behind render can cause issues later on. I would just expose a bit of brickwork behind the crack and check for any movement of the bricks, if any movement has happened it's a good idea if it has to rake out any mortar beds along the crack and repoint. Pebble dash is not difficult to redo in patches, getting it to look the same as the rest can be an art form, but like all things the quality of the job and its cost is up to you...But just filling a few mill with some sand and cement should be no bother.

 

[britishboy7]

Hi Martygturner - many thanks for your reply. I’ll get a ladder up and take a closer look after my holiday.
As a side question, what options do I have of completely doing away with the pebbledash?
I’m guessing render is the most obvious, but any other options worth considering? I’m open to suggestions

 

[martygturner]

basically hack it over or coat over it...the easiest is over render it but that assumes the substrate is good....I would test patches to see if the are sound, tap and see if they have blown away from the brick work, they sound hollow if they have. It all depends on the spend..