Rendering removal

[MartinB85]

Hi Guys,

I’m planning on getting external wall insulation (and having the current internal sucked out of our 1930s house as we’re sure it’s causing issues). We’ve had a quote we’re happy with but it doesn’t include removing the old pebble dash render, just making good/removing loose pieces.
However to me there’s load of areas it looks cracked and pealed off, especially under the guttering where it just looks like the previous owners had handy men patch it up with what looks like cement.
It’s only the top half of our house and the bottom half is brick but we want to the the new insulation to sit as flush (as possible) to the wall.
2 questions really,
1. Should it be removed for a better guarantee of no issues in the future.
2. Depending on how much extra it costs for them to remove it all, is it a difficult job? As I was thinking if it’s a case of saving a lot I could hire scaffolding and knock it off myself?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Retrolamp]

Hi, I have just done this with the father in law. I bought a couple of B and Q's own branded SDS drills with the chisel action and we managed to remove a layer of lime and two layers of cement render in just under two days. Its messy , very messy and creates a lot of waste but not too bad when you get the hang of it. We were taking it off of hard stone, assuming you'd be taking it off of brick so might cause you a few issues. We used spare celotex to wedge in the windows to protect them. It saved us £1500 on the re-render price, and spent £164 on two drills £20 on rubble bags and £100 on waste removal.

Only wear ear protection, my ears are still ringing.

 

[skmatty]

It's a bit much, I dont want to take the whole thing off. Happy to repair and paint. I bought a hand multitool blade in the end, just carved out the crack a bit and done a mortar repair. The big job is removing the soil vent pipe. Had a look behind it with elovatikn and it's complete f**ked. I think that's where I really need advice