The best answers are not always on the wall

NO SPACE for chats or tips, just two good questions that apply to a good majority of our readers. ● Penny has posed these questions relating to painting:

“The outside walls of our house (but not the of the boundary walls and new garage) were painted before our time with a textured paint that leaves a nubbly effect. How can we get rid of this paint as we wish to repaint in a different colour so that all is standard? Scraping will take forever.

“Then I want to know: how can we get rid of the suckers from old creepers on the walls? The creepers have been removed.”

This one has taken a lot of research both on the internet and lots of phone calls to paint manufacturers and painting contractors. Unfortunately there is no easy answer or quick fix, it’s all down to a lot of hard work or paying contractors to sort out the problem.

Firstly you need to establish if it is in fact a textured paint or an old-fashioned stippled plaster finish.

If you manage to get a piece of paint off, is the surface smooth underneath or still stippled?

In either case you could plaster the external surfaces smooth with an external quality skim filler, which is manufactured by at least one of the major paint suppliers in Cape Town. This would entail a fair amount of preparatory work, including some sanding and the application of a bonding coat.

If it is purely a textured paint, then it is possible to remove it, but once again it will take a lot of hard work. All painted surfaces have a weak point where the external surface has probably cracked and allowed some water in. But in all honesty it is really going to be a hard slog.

Find a weak spot, attack the textured paint initially with a paint scraper, and if you get some movement, apply your garden hose at its strongest jet. If paint starts to peel off, then get a high pressure water-jet machine and see how much you can get off. Anything that you can’t blast off you are going to have to scrape or sand off, a job that could take weeks if not months, unless you employ a professional and pay the price.

In all honesty I would recom- mend that you live with what you have, after a couple of re-paints the stipple will not be quite as apparent.

The big problem with textured walls is that they always tend to look dirty, as dust collects on the upper surface of the stipple, so get the hose on it regularly. If you do decide just to re-paint, then use paint with a very high acrylic content, so that it is almost slippery and easy to wash down.

As regards your creeper suckers it is also down to hard work. Allow them to dry out and then scrub, scrub, scrub with a wire brush until they are all off.

The process can be speeded up by burning them off with a blow torch; if nothing else it will dry them out quickly and make them easier to brush off. Just be careful not to apply too much heat as this could damage the underlying plas- ter. If the creeper has been on the wall for years, please hack-off a small piece of plaster and ensure that the roots have nor penetrated through the plaster and are not in fact growing behind it, which will over the course of time cause the plaster to separate from the brickwork. ● Diane has a problem with a wall:

“Our neighbour started making some wooden structure in his yard – it looks like a deck – and I was horrified when we came home today to see that he had drilled bolts into the common wall to secure the wooden struts. These bolts are showing through on my side of the wall, and some of the concrete has fallen away from the area.

“I was not informed of this, and wonder what my rights are, and whether is this legal? Is he not supposed to have permission for this from council and me? I am the registered owner of the property and live in the Kommetjie area.”

We have had something similar before and the answer revolves around a combination of moral, legal, municipal and safety issues. I have a serious issue with people who do not have the manners to go over and talk to a neighbour before commencing any work which may prove to be an inconvenience. Manners cost nothing.

From a legal point of view ownership of the wall becomes an issue. If it belongs to your neighbour he can do what he wants to it, if what he is doing is legal.

If he has damaged your side of the wall then I believe he is duty bound to repair it, and bolts that could cause damage or injury to your property or family should not be protruding.

From a municipal point of view, if he is building a suspended deck, he should have probably submitted a plan to the council.

I am not aware of all the local regulations or by-laws. I would suggest that you contact your local building inspector and ask him to come and ensure that everything is above board and approved.

As regards safety, I am amazed that anybody is trying to attach anything to a dividing wall.

I am not sure what kind of wall it is, but if bolts are protruding through them it cannot be very thick and therefore we can assume that the wall has not been designed to support any kind of weight and could collapse.

You should contact your local inspector urgently.

● Please keep your questions or comments coming to don@macalister.co.za or SMS only to 082 446 3859.