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We had a new patio last year. The old one had quite a slope from right to left so the builder leveled it off. In doing so he had to make it higher so extra rendering had to be added to the wall in front of the patio.

As you can see since then the wall has become very stained from the water dripping down and the old paint bubbled and cracked. We are in the process of taking off the peeling paint with a scraper and a brush. We will also be filling in the cracks and any gaps under the slabs and the extra rendering in preparation to repaint. We have been advised to use a 1 in 4 mixture of exterior PVA over the old paint and paint on top.

Having seen the stain damage done since the new patio, I am worried that the water will still continue to drip from the slabs onto the wall and we will have the same damage.

Is there a cure for this problem?

Patio edge with deep drop to lawn

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  • What's the wall made of?
    – JACK
    Mar 26 at 17:54
  • It's brick rendered with reinforced mesh. It's a very old wall.
    – Marlow Bottom
    Mar 27 at 19:11
  • Your title question and the question you seem to be asking in the body don't match up. You seem to be asking about painting the wall and about preventing staining from water dripping. Unless you think there's a paint option that will prevent staining, these seem to be two different processes.
    – FreeMan
    Mar 28 at 12:28

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If you plug the gaps between the slabs the water will still come over at whichever is the lowest depression and over time stain your new paint. The best way to prevent this is some sort of elevation or a gutter, in both cases directing the dirty water sideways.

The elevation could be a tiny ledge (couple of cm will do) that leads into two drains on the sides so it goes straight to the garden. Another alternative is slightly raising the slabs on one side at the front edge (so they 'lean' towards the house, however this will probably not stop staining completely, there will be days with heavy rain).

The gutter could either be an actual small gutter in front (maybe one layer of bricks to support, or cut off the required depth for the gutter from the slabs), or some sort of vertical cover (for example vertical slabs) that leave a space between them and the current (stained) surface, infinity pool style. This way the visible surface will not stain.

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    Something (ledge, drip edge) that carried the water just past the face of the wall so it dripped in front rather than running down the face of the wall would likely also do the job.
    – Ecnerwal
    Apr 27 at 15:29
  • True, but that would probably still get you a dirty strip above the drip edge :)
    – MiG
    Apr 27 at 19:51

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