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Writer's pictureCristina Cuevas

Pebble-dash iron staining

Updated: Jun 20, 2023

So you have recently completed a hip-to-gable loft conversion and noticed some rust stains showing up on your newly painted pebble-dash gable end. Before panicking, it is good to know the cause.


When specific individual stones within the product that are used for pebble-dashing have a high iron content and are exposed to the environment, iron staining can happen naturally. Humidity is not the cause but can aggravate the issue.

Could this have been avoided? You may wonder why some gable ends on your street have stains, while other houses on the street contain none. The answer is, unfortunately, there is no way to ascertain if iron staining will show up, as magnets will not pick out the individual pebbles that contain the iron. Since iron staining is a natural occurrence, neither a warranty nor obligation may be accepted for areas where iron staining has occurred.

While aesthetically, iron staining doesn't look great, the actual render itself is not compromised. To fix the appearance, you will need to remove the pebbles that contain iron. The staining will show a source of the iron from the harshest point of the stain, making it easy to locate the offending member. Once the offending stones have been located and hacked out individually, you will need to prime and paint the entire gable with a specialist primer and paint.

Just as a note; you may encounter further staining as it is not uncommon for the stains to take several years to come to light, and there is no way to tell if the aggregate is impacted before use. so it is always best to wait a full few seasons after you notice the staining before carrying out the remedial work

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