# Plastering costs for garden wall



## Canny39 (11 Mar 2009)

Looking for advice, based in Dublin and have just received a quote of 1600 euro for plastering one side of two garden walls each appox 34 foot long x 6 foot height. Have looked at other threads but all seem to be related to internal house plastering, any advice / info appreciated.


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## Hillsalt (11 Mar 2009)

I had the inside of a garden wall plastered 2 years ago. The wall is about 8' high and 20 foot long. It cost a straight €1000.

I painted it white and my garden's appearance improved overnight.


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## Rois (12 Mar 2009)

Both quotes sound very expensive to me - there's a big difference between plastering garden wall as opposed to internal walls. 

Couple of questions - why do you want your garden walls plastered in the first place?
Would you not consider just painting them yourself with wall paint?  

I had my garden walls plastered in a really rough "mediterranean style" plaster, cost a fraction of the price you would pay for perfect plastering (no skimming etc) and then just painted them myself.

Don't want to sound boastful here, but my walls were the envy of the neighbourhood! Add to that some lovely exotic shrubs, grasses and a rockery etc etc..


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## DeclanP (12 Mar 2009)

Agree that perfectly finished plastered walls are a waste of money and will discolour in a couple of years. There are various plants that can disguise the bad look of walls and will enhance gardens at the same time. Use a bit of imagination even though it is a fairly long stretch of wall. Landscaping would be the best and cheapest option.


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## Airtight (12 Mar 2009)

Rois said:


> Both quotes sound very expensive to me - there's a big difference between plastering garden wall as opposed to internal walls.
> 
> Couple of questions - why do you want your garden walls plastered in the first place?
> Would you not consider just painting them yourself with wall paint?
> ...



how much did it cost?


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## Surveyor (13 Mar 2009)

Wow that sounds like a massive quote for plastering in this day in age. You should be able to get a nap finish to your wall for about €26 per m2. Lets take it your wall is 12m long x 2m high and add on a bit for preliminaries. you should not pay more than €400 plus VAT per wall.


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## Chocks away (13 Mar 2009)

Surveyor said:


> Wow that sounds like a massive quote for plastering in this day in age. You should be able to get a nap finish to your wall for about €26 per m2. Lets take it your wall is 12m long x 2m high and add on a bit for preliminaries. you should not pay more than €400 plus VAT per wall.



24x26=624 (+ preliminaries) = 400 + VAT =


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## skingtile (13 Mar 2009)

is it materials and labour


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## Canny39 (14 Mar 2009)

skingtile said:


> is it materials and labour


 
1600 quote was for finished job. Have since had a quote for 900 Euro which seems a lot more reasonable to me (Appox breakdown 600 labour and 300 materials)


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## Rois (14 Mar 2009)

Airtight said:


> how much did it cost?


 
It cost 300 punts in 2001.


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## skingtile (14 Mar 2009)

if a good tradesman sounds okay


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## Canny39 (14 Mar 2009)

Rois said:


> Both quotes sound very expensive to me - there's a big difference between plastering garden wall as opposed to internal walls.
> 
> Couple of questions - why do you want your garden walls plastered in the first place?
> Would you not consider just painting them yourself with wall paint?
> ...


 
Rois
Sounds like you got what you wanted for a very good price. In response to your queries I want to get the walls plastered as I share boundaries with two different neighbours on one side of the garden and although they are all block walls, there is hugh variance in their appearance and I would like a uniform finish. If all the walls were the same I would be happen to leave the blockwork alone. I do not intend painting the walls at all as there will be plenty of planting and I do not believe it will be necessary for the look I want to achieve.


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## Canny39 (14 Mar 2009)

skingtile said:


> if a good tradesman sounds okay


thanks for that. Yes he seems to good and I liked his approach. One question I have is that he asked me if I would like a plinth at the base of the walls ( I am going for a nap finish). Is this advisable or appropriate for garden walls?


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## Tony (15 Mar 2009)

Does anyone here have a standard cavity block painted wall in their garden. I heard it looks great when painted cream, does anyone have pictures of this?


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## Rois (15 Mar 2009)

Tony said:


> Does anyone here have a standard cavity block painted wall in their garden. I heard it looks great when painted cream, does anyone have pictures of this?


 
Can't send you a photo - cause they now longer own the house, but my friend painted her block wall with dulux cotswold cream and reckoned it was the best thing she ever did to the house!


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## Lak (15 Mar 2009)

Garden walls advice....ensure that the wall will first receive a good scratch coat followed by the finished laying in coat for best results.
Cheap and cheerfull is a quick coat of render flung on and floated up...result an okay finish but one that will when damp (most of the time) have, what is termed as "grinning" where the outline of the blocks will show like teeth through the finish. This does not happen with a good thick waterproof scratch coat, second point to consider is a quick rubbed up one coat application, when the sun shines across it will look at worst horrendous, not so noticeable head on in grey weather. Two coats of render, properly ruled straight and true, well floated and then sponged finished will when painted look an absolute treat. So depends on what you want to pay for what you want to achieve, ask the plasterer how he intends to tackle the job and work it out from there.


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## PatK (24 Mar 2009)

Hi all,
I'm hoping to have Mediterranean Style Plaster put on my garden walls, but someone told me I would have to cap the top of the walls first to shelter the wall so that rain would not get behind the plaster and cause the plaster to fall off the wall.
Did everybody else cap their walls?
Did anyone have any problems getting neighbors to agree to having one side of their own garden with capped walls? 

Thanks
Pat


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## Sconhome (24 Mar 2009)

Pat, you should cap the blocks for exactly the reasons you have given. You could use a natural stone such as sandstone as a capping alternative to either saddle back or feather edge concrete caps.
To second the point above by legs- ensure that you are getting two decent coats of waterproofed render and pay the money for a good job. If you are only willing to pay for a cheap job, thats what you will get.

An alternative (for Pat) is to use yellow sharp sand, lime and white cement as your render. You will pay more for the materials but end up with a pale beige finish which may be in keeping with the look you are going for and not require painting to lose the concrete look.

Canny - I would recommend digging the soil away from the base of the wall allowing the render to continue below the finished garden level, looks much neater on the finished job.
Good luck!


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## PatK (25 Mar 2009)

Thanks for your reply Sconhome! I will make sure to get the walls capped. 
I want white render to match my white house so I wont be using yellow sharp sand.
Just have to approach my neighbors now.


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## Rois (26 Mar 2009)

PatK said:


> Hi all,
> I'm hoping to have Mediterranean Style Plaster put on my garden walls, but someone told me I would have to cap the top of the walls first to shelter the wall so that rain would not get behind the plaster and cause the plaster to fall off the wall.
> Did everybody else cap their walls?
> Pat


 
Pat, can only speak from my own experience, but didn't cap the walls, and 8 years on nothing has fallen off!!  In fact at this stage the plants have grown so much it wouldnt really matter if it did. Even the parts of the wall that are still very visible and near the house look absolutely fine despite the rain and harsh frosts in the past few years.


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## PatK (26 Mar 2009)

Thanks for the reply Rois. I will have to ask a few other builders if they always cap plastered walls.


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## Canny39 (26 Mar 2009)

Sconhome said:


> Canny - I would recommend digging the soil away from the base of the wall allowing the render to continue below the finished garden level, looks much neater on the finished job.
> Good luck!


 
Sconhome
Advice much appreciated and will definitely follow this advice, had a look at a neighbours newly plastered wall after reading this and you can see very uneven finish above the grassline where the plaster ends at the base.
 Also thanks to everyone else for their helpful comments and advice.


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## Canny39 (14 May 2009)

Thought I would let you all know that garden is now finished. Garden walls look fab - plasterer did a great job and earned every penny (final cost was 850 euro). He also advised capping walls for a better longterm finish and my neighbours are going to do the same and share the cost so we are all happy!


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