Rendering in Little Aston

Little Aston is a wooded village in the south-east corner of Staffordshire, in Lichfield District, where the lanes of the old Little Aston Hall park run between rhododendron hedges and tall Scots pines. It sits against Streetly, Four Oaks and Aldridge, and the Birmingham boundary runs down the middle of Rosemary Hill Road. Most homes are large detached houses on big plots, individually designed across the twentieth century, from 1920s Arts and Crafts and mock Tudor to white modern movement houses and recent rebuilds. A smaller, older village sits to the north around Forge Lane and the Aldridge Road. RCR Connections Ltd is Birmingham based, covering the whole of the Midlands, and rendering on Little Aston’s houses, along with plastering inside them, is work we quote for regularly in this corner of Staffordshire.

This guide is about the outside of the house. It explains how Little Aston came to have such a varied mix of buildings, what render each type usually carries, why so many of those finishes fail, what the conservation area means for changing the look of a house, and how we approach re-rendering a large detached property from first photos to the last bead.

Free, no-obligation quote in Little Aston: WhatsApp me on 07453 614095 with a few photos, or send us a message.

From hall park to private estate

Little Aston Hall and its grounds

The modern village grew out of the park of Little Aston Hall, a country house on the Aldridge Road side of the area. For a long time the land south of the hall was its private parkland: woods worked for timber, open heath and plantations of pine, crossed by the line of the Roman road. Many of the oaks and beeches still standing have the long, straight trunks of trees grown as a crop, and the Scots pines around Hardwick Road and Talbot Avenue are thought to be more than a century old.

The 1907 sale

In 1907 the park was sold off in building plots. According to the council’s conservation area appraisal, the sale came with a restriction that no house worth less than a set minimum could be built on the land, which is why the estate filled with substantial houses rather than terraces or semis. Owners commissioned their own architects, and each decade left its own style. That piecemeal, house-by-house growth is the thing the council later set out to protect.

What happened to the hall

The hall itself went into decline early in the twentieth century. In 1954 the oil company Esso took it over as offices, and office blocks were built between the hall and the coach houses on the Aldridge Road. They were removed in the 1980s. The hall was then converted into apartments, and further apartment blocks and a private hospital now stand on the former estate. Lady Aston Park, a newer gated development, sits beside them.

Roman Road and Icknield Street

Roman Road, the spine of the estate, follows the course of Icknield Street (also written Ryknild Street), the Roman road that ran from the south-west up towards Derby and the north. A stretch of the original road survives in Sutton Park at the southern end. Little Aston’s older finds include a Neolithic arrowhead and medieval pottery, but the Roman road is what gives the estate its long, straight main lane.

St Peter’s church

Little Aston became a separate church parish in 1874, when St Peter’s was built on land given by Edward Swynfen Parker Jervis, who also paid for it. The church was designed by George Edmund Street, one of the best known Victorian church architects. Views of the spire from Walsall Road and Roman Road are singled out in the appraisal as important, and the church is the oldest landmark on the estate side of the village.

The conservation area

Designation and boundary

Lichfield District Council designated the Little Aston Conservation Area on 26 October 1999. It covers around 130 hectares, taking in Little Aston Hall, the former park, the golf course and the lanes of individual houses. The 2009 appraisal proposed adding parts of the old village on Forge Lane and Aldridge Road, some houses on Hardwick Road, Little Aston Park Road and Newick Avenue, and a change to the line along Roman Road. If you are unsure whether your house falls inside, the council’s map is the place to check.

What the council values

The appraisal is clear that the special character is the landscape as much as the buildings: tree-lined lanes, rhododendron screens, gates and verges, with houses glimpsed through gaps in the planting. It also praises “good examples of incremental individual development”, with high-quality houses from the 1920s, 30s, 50s and 60s, and notes a rare listed art deco house among them. The houses get grander towards Beech Gate, the old entrance to the hall and now a symbol of the estate.

Article 4 and painting

This is the part that matters most for render. The 2009 management plan proposed an Article 4 direction on a list of houses in the conservation area. Among the permitted development rights it proposed to remove were the enlargement and alteration of a house, roof alterations, porches and, importantly, the painting of the exterior of any building. If an Article 4 direction of that kind applies to your house, changing its colour, painting render for the first time or switching from painted render to a different finish may need planning permission. We cannot tell you from here which houses are covered, so check with the council’s conservation officer before choosing a new colour or finish.

Locally listed buildings

The same plan proposed a register of buildings of special local interest, including named houses on Endwood Drive, Keepers Road, Park Drive, Hardwick Road and Forge Lane, among them the old forge. Local listing does not add the same controls as national listing, but the council will take it into account in any application. If your house is on that list, the original finish is likely to be one of the things that makes it special.

Private estates and covenants

On top of the council’s rules, much of the estate is privately managed. Parts of Little Aston Park are maintained privately, and the Claverdon Park estate has restrictive covenants managed by its own company. Changing the external look of a house can need consent from the estate company as well as the council. We always ask about covenants early, because they can rule out a colour or finish before anyone has quoted for it.

The house file: what is on Little Aston walls

No two neighbouring houses on the estate are quite alike, but they fall into a handful of broad groups, each with its own render story.

Arts and Crafts and vernacular revival houses

Some of the earliest houses on the estate, from the years after the 1907 sale and the 1920s, follow the Arts and Crafts and vernacular revival traditions: steep clay-tiled roofs, tall chimneys, leaded casements and walls of hand-made brick, often with roughcast on the upper floor or the gables. Roughcast on these houses was usually a lime-based mix thrown on wet, giving a lively, textured surface. Over the years many have been patched or overcoated with cement-based mixes, which hold moisture against the brick and lead to cracking and spalling.

What they usually need:

• Careful repair of the original roughcast where it is sound, matching the texture and aggregate.
• Removal of failed cement patches, then re-coating in a lime-based roughcast.
• Breathable mineral or limewash finishes rather than plastic masonry paint.
• Close attention to the junctions with timberwork, bargeboards and window frames.

Mock Tudor houses

Mock Tudor houses of the 1920s and 30s have black-painted timbers set into white render panels. The panels are often sand and cement on lath or mesh, or render on brick behind applied boards. Common faults are cracks at the edge of every timber, where the wood and render move differently, and water getting behind the boards and rotting them from the back.

What they usually need:

• Cutting back cracked render at the timber edges and making a clean, sealed joint.
• Replacing rotten boards with the help of a joiner before re-rendering the panels.
• Using a render with a little flexibility, and a finish that will not crack as the timbers move.
• Repainting the panels in a breathable paint in the original crisp white.

Modern movement and art deco houses

Little Aston has some striking white modern movement houses of the 1930s, with flat roofs, long horizontal windows, curved corners and smooth rendered walls. Their render is usually a smooth sand and cement finish over brick or block, painted white. Flat roofs and parapets let water into the tops of walls, and curved corners and thin details are hard to repair without losing their crispness.

What they usually need:

• Repairing cracked or hollow render on parapets and copings, after the roof detail is sorted.
• Re-rendering curved walls in a way that keeps the curve true and the arrises sharp.
• Keeping the smooth, flat finish that defines the style, rather than a textured coat.
• On a listed house, agreeing the method and materials with the council first.

Post-war houses of the 1950s and 60s

The 1950s and 60s brought another wave of individual houses, often lower and wider, with large windows, panels of render or cladding between the brick, and sometimes spar dash or Tyrolean finishes. Render on these is usually cement-based. It tends to crack around window frames, below sills and at the corners, and painted finishes flake after a few decades.

What they usually need:

• Testing for hollow areas and taking off render that has lost its key.
• Re-rendering in sand and cement or a modern system such as K-Rend monocouche and silicone finishes.
• New beads at corners, around openings and along the bottom edge.
• Matching the proportions of rendered panels to the original design.

Rebuilds and new houses

A noticeable number of houses in the area have been replaced in recent decades, or so heavily remodelled they are effectively new. Many use smooth through-coloured render over block, often in white or soft greys and creams. These systems last well when they are put on properly, but problems come from poor detailing: missing beads, render taken below ground level, no movement joints on long elevations and staining under sills.

What they usually need:

• Cleaning and treating algae and staining on north-facing walls under trees.
• Repairing impact damage and cracks at movement points.
• Re-coating with a silicone finish to restore colour and water repellence.
• Fixing details such as sills, drips and the base of the wall that let water in.

The old village

In the north, the remnants of the old village around Forge Lane, Aldridge Road and Walsall Road are quite different: smaller brick houses and cottages in a Staffordshire vernacular, some painted, with clay tile roofs and casement windows. The Cottage at 1 Walsall Road is listed and dates from the eighteenth century. Older buildings here, including the forge and the mill cottages on the brook, are best treated with lime-based materials and breathable paints, not cement.

Why render fails under the trees

Shade, damp and algae

The trees that define Little Aston are hard on render. Walls that sit under the canopy get little sun and dry slowly after rain. Leaves and needles block gutters, which then overflow down the face of the wall. North-facing elevations turn green with algae, and drips from branches stain the render in streaks. None of this means the render is failing on its own, but constant wetting speeds up every other problem.

Roots, clay and movement

Large trees close to houses can affect the ground around foundations, especially on clay soils. As soils dry in summer and wet again in winter, buildings can move slightly, opening cracks at corners and above openings. We cannot diagnose structural movement, and if cracks are wide, stepped or keep reopening, a structural engineer should look first. Once the cause is understood, we can repair the render and add reinforcement or movement joints where needed.

Cement on old walls

On the older houses, the commonest cause of failure is a cement render over soft brick. Cement is harder and less permeable than the brick behind it. Water gets in through hairline cracks and cannot get out, so it sits in the wall, freezes and pushes the render off. Removing it and switching to lime is often the only lasting fix.

Paint that traps water

Many rendered walls have been painted several times with masonry paints that slow drying. Blistering, peeling and powdery patches are the signs. Where an Article 4 direction may apply, the choice of paint and colour is a planning question as well as a technical one, so it is worth agreeing it early.

Failed details

Sills that do not project, missing drip beads above windows, render running down into soil or paving, and pipes fixed through the render without sealing are all common. Each lets water in at a weak point. Fixing these is part of any good re-render.

K-Rend in Little Aston: rendering across the estate, the old village and the lanes

Little Aston is a private estate of large individual houses set among trees, with Arts and Crafts and mock Tudor houses from the 1920s and 30s alongside homes from the 1950s and 60s, most of it inside a conservation area. Many houses here need careful, breathable work, while the later homes and extensions suit K-Rend monocouche and silicone render. RCR Connections Ltd is Birmingham based, covering the whole of the Midlands, and Little Aston is a short run north of the city from us. These are the parts of the area we work in most, the houses you find there and the K-Rend jobs they usually need.

• The estate lanes and Beech Gate. Large detached houses glimpsed through hedges and trees, getting grander towards Beech Gate. The conservation area and any Article 4 direction can affect colour and finish, so we always ask you to check with Lichfield District Council before a new colour or finish is chosen.
• Arts and Crafts houses. Some of the earliest homes on the estate, with steep tiled roofs, tall chimneys and roughcast on the upper floor or the gables. Here we repair the original roughcast in a lime-based mix and take off failed cement patches, rather than using K-Rend.
• Mock Tudor houses. Black timbers set into white render panels. Cracks at the edge of every timber are the usual fault. We cut back and seal those joints and use a render with a little give, working with a joiner where boards have rotted.
• 1950s and 60s houses. Later houses on the estate, often with cavity walls and painted render. These, and the extensions added to many older homes, suit a through-coloured K-Rend or silicone finish that does not need painting, where the council is happy with the look.
• Forge Lane and the Aldridge Road. The older village houses and cottages along the lanes, where solid walls need a breathable finish. Our page on rendering in Aldridge covers the town next door.
• Streetly, Four Oaks and Shenstone. The neighbouring areas on each side, with inter-war semis, larger detached homes and modern estates. K-Rend is the usual choice on the newer houses. See rendering in Sutton Coldfield and rendering in Lichfield for those areas.

Wherever you are in Little Aston, the first step is the same: WhatsApp me on 07453 614095 or message the page with a photo of each side of the house and your road or postcode. We work Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm and Saturday 7am to 1pm, and between us we have 62 years of combined experience.

Render systems we use

Sand and cement

A conventional cement-based render is still a good choice for many 1950s and 60s houses with sound brick or block. It is strong, can be finished smooth or textured, and is normally painted. It suits houses where the owner wants to keep a painted finish and colour.

K-Rend monocouche and silicone

K-Rend monocouche and silicone systems are through-coloured, so the colour runs right through the render and there is no painting. Monocouche goes on in a single thick coat and is scraped back to a fine texture. Silicone finishes are thin, flexible and water-repellent, and stay cleaner for longer, which helps on walls under trees. Both suit new houses, rebuilds and modern remodels, and many owners choose them to avoid repainting large elevations. Our page on K-Rend monocouche and silicone rendering explains the systems in more detail.

Lime render and roughcast

For the older Arts and Crafts houses, the listed and locally listed buildings and the old village, lime render or lime roughcast is usually the right choice. It is softer and more breathable than cement, so the wall can dry out. It takes more time and care, and needs the right weather, but it protects older brick and matches the original look.

Choosing between them

The right system depends on the age and construction of the house, the condition of the wall, the look you want and any planning or covenant restrictions. On large houses, it is common to use different systems on different parts: lime on the original house and a modern system on a new extension, with a careful junction between them. We will explain what we recommend and why.

How we re-render a large detached house

Survey and photos

The first step is to look at every elevation. We tap-test the render for hollow areas, look for cracks and their pattern, check the damp-proof course and ground levels, look at sills, drips, gutters and downpipes and note any features to keep. On houses in the conservation area, we photograph everything before work starts so there is a record of the original.

Agreeing the scope

From the survey we agree what is being repaired, what is being removed and what system goes back on. For a house under an Article 4 direction or in a private estate, this is the moment to get consent in place. Scaffold, access across lawns and drives, and protection for planting are also agreed now.

Scaffold and protection

Big houses with tall gables need scaffold. We plan it around trees and shrubs and protect windows, doors, roofs, paving and drives with sheeting. In Little Aston, many drives are long and gravelled, and gardens are planted right up to the house, so careful protection matters.

Preparation

Failed render is removed back to sound brick or block. Loose material is brushed off, and the wall is treated for algae and cleaned. Beads are fixed at corners, around openings and along the base of the wall, set above ground level and above the damp-proof course. Cracks in the substrate are repaired, and mesh is set into the base coat over joints and changes of material.

Application

Each system is applied in the right number of coats, in the right weather, with the right drying time between them. On lime work, coats are built up slowly and kept damp. On through-coloured systems, the finish coat is applied and textured in one go across each elevation, so there are no visible joins.

Finishing and clean-up

After the finish coat, we reinstate pipes, fittings and lights, clean down windows and paving, and take the scaffold down only once the render has set enough. We walk round the house with you before we leave.

Elevation by elevation

The front

The front of a Little Aston house is often the most detailed elevation: a porch, bay windows, gables, decorative timber or a feature entrance. It is also the side most people see from the lane, through the gap in the hedge, and the side a conservation officer will care about most. We spend the most time on details here: clean arrises on bays, crisp edges where render meets brick or stone, and matching the texture of any original finish that is being kept.

The garden side

The rear elevation is usually where the extensions are, and where the house has changed most. Kitchen extensions, garden rooms, glazed links and terraces are common. Rendering here is often about pulling different periods together into one finish, or deliberately keeping the new work distinct. On large rear elevations we plan movement joints so that a long run of render does not crack between the old house and the new.

Gables and chimneys

Tall gables and big chimney stacks are typical of the earlier houses. Gables catch the weather and are hard to reach, so render on them often fails first. Chimneys are exposed on all sides and can let water down into the wall below. Before re-rendering a chimney, the flaunching, flashings and pots should be checked by a roofer, because there is no point rendering a stack that is letting water in from the top.

Shaded side walls

Side walls between neighbouring houses are often close to boundary planting and get little sun. They are where algae, green staining and slow-drying render are worst. A silicone finish, which resists dirt and algae better than most, can be a good choice here, along with keeping gutters clear and cutting back shrubs from the face of the wall.

Extensions: matching old and new

Matching a finish

When a new extension is built onto a rendered house, owners usually want it to look as though it has always been there. That means matching the texture, colour and depth of the existing render. With painted sand and cement, it is relatively easy to match by repainting both. With roughcast or a textured finish, it takes test panels and a careful choice of aggregate.

Re-rendering the whole house

Sometimes the better option is to re-render the whole house at the same time as the extension, so the finish is new and uniform throughout. This is often the case when the original render is already cracked, patched or failing. It is a bigger job at the time, but avoids an obvious join between old and new and resets the clock on maintenance for the whole house.

Different materials on one house

Where an older house is built of soft brick with lime, and the extension is in modern block, the two parts may need different render systems. Lime suits the original walls and a modern system suits the block. The junction between them needs a proper stop or movement detail so they can move independently without cracking.

Garden walls, gate piers and outbuildings

Boundaries in the conservation area

Boundaries are a big part of Little Aston’s character, and the appraisal singles out posts, verges, gates, hedges and the old Victorian estate fencing. The 2009 management plan also proposed bringing gates, fences and walls within the Article 4 controls, so changes to a front boundary may need permission. Rendered gate piers and walls are worth checking with the council before you change their finish or colour.

Rendered piers and walls

A rendered gate pier or garden wall takes rain on every face, including its top, so it usually fails well before the house does. A good coping, a drip detail and a breathable render all help. On older brick, lime is usually the better choice. On newer block walls, a modern system is fine as long as the top is protected.

Garages, coach houses and pool houses

Many larger plots have detached garages, older coach houses or newer pool houses and garden buildings. Owners often want them to match the house, though a plainer finish is sometimes more fitting. Older outbuildings in soft brick are best rendered in lime, while newer blockwork takes a cement-based or through-coloured coat perfectly well.

Colour and texture in a green setting

Colour

White and off-white are traditional for many Little Aston houses, especially the modern movement houses and the mock Tudor panels. Softer creams, stone colours and pale greys are common on newer houses. In a heavily wooded setting, stark brilliant white can show staining quickly, while slightly warmer whites hold up better between cleans. Where an Article 4 direction applies, any colour change may need permission.

Texture

Smooth finishes suit modern movement and contemporary houses. Textured and roughcast finishes suit Arts and Crafts and vernacular revival houses. Through-coloured monocouche gives a fine scraped texture. Silicone finishes come in different grain sizes. We bring samples or make test panels on site so you can see the finish in daylight, against your brickwork and planting.

Looking after render once it is on

Keep water off it

The single most useful thing an owner can do is keep gutters, hoppers and downpipes clear, especially under trees. Overflowing gutters soak the wall below and are behind much of the staining and cracking we see. Cutting back shrubs and climbers from the face of the wall also lets it dry.

Clean gently

Algae and dirt can be removed with a suitable biocide and a soft wash. Pressure washers at full power can damage render, especially lime or older cement finishes. Silicone finishes are designed to resist dirt, but they benefit from an occasional gentle clean too.

Deal with small cracks early

Small cracks let water in and get worse over winter. Raking them out and filling them, or having them looked at, is much easier than waiting until a section of render comes away.

Weather and the time of year

Temperature and frost

Fresh render wants dry days and air above roughly 5°C while it cures, with no frost forecast for the following days. Lime needs even more care, as frost can ruin it in its first weeks. In practice this means most re-rendering takes place between spring and autumn, and we plan large jobs around the forecast.

Shade and slow drying

Under heavy tree cover, render dries more slowly. That is good in hot weather, as it stops the render drying too fast, but in cold, damp weeks it can slow the job down. We adjust the schedule and protect fresh work with sheeting where needed.

Wind and rain

Rain on fresh render can wash out the surface or leave streaks, and strong wind can dry it too quickly. We watch the forecast closely and will pause work rather than risk a poor finish.

Inside the house: plastering too

Matching the inside to the outside

Many Little Aston rendering projects go hand in hand with work inside: an extension, a remodel or a new layout. When the shell is up and the builder moves out, we board and plaster new rooms, make good around new windows and doors, and repair ceilings and walls disturbed by the work. Our plastering in Sutton Coldfield page covers our internal work in more detail.

Older interiors

The older houses on the estate often still have lime plaster on solid brick walls and lath and plaster ceilings. Where these need repair, we use lime to match. Where earlier owners have already changed to gypsum, we can repair in gypsum, as long as the walls are not suffering from damp.

Ceilings and textured finishes

Textured ceiling coatings were common in the 1960s and 70s. Any put up before 2000 should be tested for asbestos before anyone scrapes or sands it. If clear, it can be plastered over. If not, overboarding seals it in place.

Planning: who to ask

Lichfield District Council

Little Aston is in Lichfield District, and the council handles planning. For houses in the conservation area, especially any covered by an Article 4 direction, the council’s conservation officer is the right person to ask about changing the external finish or colour. For listed buildings, any change to the external finish is likely to need listed building consent.

The neighbourhood plan

Little Aston has a neighbourhood plan covering 2015 to 2029, which sits alongside the council’s policies. It sets out the community’s view of how the area should change, and anyone planning a large project should read it.

Building regulations

Re-rendering on its own does not usually need building regulations approval. Where render is part of a thermal upgrade or covers a large proportion of a wall, the rules on thermal performance may apply. Your builder or architect should check this.

Trees

Around 60 Tree Preservation Orders are in force in Little Aston, mostly within the conservation area, and the council has to be given notice before work on trees in the conservation area. If scaffold or access needs a tree to be pruned, check first.

What to send us for a quote

The quickest way to a quote is a few photos and some basic information:

• A photo of each elevation, front, back and both sides.
• Close-ups of any cracks, hollow areas, stains or damaged details.
• The rough age of the house and whether it has been extended.
• Whether it is listed, locally listed, in the conservation area or on a private estate.
• The finish you have in mind, if you know.
• Any access issues: narrow drives, trees close to the house, gates.

From that, a guide figure or a site visit usually follows within a few days.

Questions worth asking before you choose a renderer

• Will you tap-test the render and tell me what needs to come off?
• Which system do you recommend for this house, and why?
• Where will the render stop at ground level, relative to the damp-proof course?
• Where will you put beads and movement joints on a long elevation?
• How will you protect the drive, planting and windows?
• What weather do you need, and what happens if it changes?

Working hours

Our working week runs Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm, plus Saturday mornings from 7am to 1pm. Sunday is closed. Exterior work is planned around the weather, so start dates on rendering jobs can move by a few days when the forecast turns.

Where the records differ

Accounts of Little Aston’s history do not always agree. These are the points where sources disagree, so we have not presented any of them as settled:

• The council’s appraisal says the hall was bought in 1977 and turned into seven apartments. Another account describes seven blocks of apartments built in the grounds in the mid-1980s. Both may be true, describing different parts of the site.
• The appraisal gives the date the Esso office blocks were demolished as 1983, while other accounts give only the mid-1980s.
• Whether the Article 4 direction proposed in 2009 was confirmed for every house on the original list is something to check with the council, not something we can confirm.

Nearby areas we cover

Little Aston sits between Streetly, Four Oaks, Aldridge and Shenstone, and we work in all of them. See our pages for rendering in Streetly, rendering in Aldridge, plastering in Four Oaks, plastering in Mere Green, plastering in Shenstone, rendering in Walsall and plastering in Lichfield. For the whole range, go to plastering and rendering services, or browse every area we cover.

More services: Rendering with sand and cement · Rendering new extensions.

Contact RCR Connections Ltd

The people on our jobs bring 62 years of combined experience, covering everything from lime roughcast on old cottages to through-coloured render on large new houses. WhatsApp me on 07453 614095 or message the page for a free, no-obligation quote. Photos of each side of the house and the name of your road are plenty to start with.

More from RCR Connections Ltd: All plastering and rendering services · Areas we cover