Parging is the cement-based coat over the exposed part of a foundation wall. When it cracks, sounds hollow or drops off in pieces, FAIME takes off what has let go, repairs the wall behind it, and rebuilds the coat with mesh and a proper base and finish — so it bonds to the wall instead of peeling off again next spring.
Hollow and loose coat removed back to sound material, then rebuilt in a base coat and finish.
Parging Repair
Scattered failures cut back and patched so the repair bonds to the wall, not to old parging.
Stone & Veneer Replacement
Dated stone veneer or flagstone stripped off and the foundation re-skinned in parging.
Tinted Finish
A finish coat tinted to suit the house, run dead-straight at the brick or siding line.
What It Is
A Protective Finish, Not Waterproofing.
Most bad parging jobs are bought to solve a problem parging cannot solve. Being clear about what it does — and what it does not — is the first thing we do at the site visit.
What Parging Does
Protects exposed block or concrete from weathering and freeze–thaw damage
Evens out an irregular surface into one clean face
Covers old veneer scars, tie holes and patchwork
Gives the base of the wall a finished, tintable surface
What Parging Does Not Do
Waterproof a basement — that is a drainage and membrane problem below grade
Repair structural cracking or movement in the foundation
Stop water coming through a crack that runs through the wall itself
Last over a surface it was never properly bonded to
How We Do It
Bonded to the Wall. Not to Old Parging.
01
Tap Test Before the Quote
We sound the wall along its length. Hollow areas are marked out so the scope says whether it is a patch or a re-parge — before you pay for either.
02
Everything Hollow Comes Off
Loose coat is taken back to sound, bonded material or bare foundation. New parging over old parging that is letting go just fails at the old bond line.
03
Surface Preparation
Dirt, efflorescence, paint and old coatings are cleaned off, smooth concrete is roughened, and a bonding agent is used where the substrate needs it.
04
Cracks Repaired First
Cracks behind the coat are repaired before anything goes over them. Structural movement is flagged for an engineer — it is not something parging can bridge.
05
Mesh and Proper Coats
A base coat with fibreglass mesh — especially at corners and where movement is expected — then the finish coat, each at the right thickness. Never one heavy pass.
06
The Water Source Gets Named
Downspouts against the wall, splashback or soil graded toward the house will break any new parging. We point them out so the new coat is not fighting the same water.
Proof
Parging Work We Have Actually Done
A Toronto home where dated stone veneer came off the foundation. Behind it, old flagstones had cracked through, with failing parging at the corner. The cracks were repaired and bridged, the walls wrapped in a mesh-reinforced base coat, and the full perimeter finished in a tinted coat matched to the brick. Every photo below is from this job.
Behind the old veneer: failing parging and a crack at the corner.Mesh embedded in the base coat at the corner, paving protected.Base coat hand-trowelled across the full perimeter.Finished: tinted, matched to the brick, straight at the brick line.
“Had faime construction remove the old flagstone of the front of our house and redo it in parging. Very happy with how it turned out, highly recommended”
No. Parging protects and finishes the exposed part of the foundation above ground. It does not stop water getting into a basement — that is the job of the waterproofing or damp-proofing on the outside of the wall below grade and the drainage at the footing. If your basement leaks, re-parging will make the outside look better but will not stop the leak, and we will tell you that at the site visit rather than sell you a coat that cannot fix it.
Tap along the wall every hand-width with a screwdriver handle. Solid parging gives a sharp tap; parging that has let go sounds dull and hollow. Small, scattered hollow spots can be patched and the patch will hold. If the hollow areas add up to roughly a third of an elevation or more, a patch is being bonded to parging that is about to fall off itself, and that elevation should be taken back and redone.
Not without preparation. Parging trowelled onto smooth, painted, sealed or dusty concrete has nothing to grip and typically comes off in flat sheets a year or two later. The surface has to be cleaned of dirt, efflorescence, paint and old coatings and roughened, with a bonding agent used where the substrate needs it. That preparation is most of the difference between parging that lasts and parging that peels.
Yes. Where dated stone veneer or flagstone on a foundation is loose or simply unwanted, the right sequence is to strip it, repair what is underneath, and then rebuild the surface with a mesh-reinforced base coat and finish — not to parge over the top of a failing veneer. We did exactly this on a Toronto home, finishing in a tinted coat matched to the brick.
Parging is a cement-based coat, so it needs above-freezing temperatures while it goes on and while it cures. In the GTA that makes it spring-to-fall work, and we schedule around the forecast. If you notice it failing over the winter, photos sent now let us scope it so the work can start as soon as the weather allows.
Tap It Before You Patch It.
Send us photos of the parging — close-ups of the cracks and a wide shot of the wall — and we’ll tell you honestly whether it is a patch or a re-parge, with a written scope and a firm price before anything starts.
