The Free State is the frost province. Everywhere else on this site the question is what the weather does to a wall across a year; here it is what the weather does to it in a single night. Water that has soaked into the outer few millimetres of plaster freezes after dark, expands, and pushes the face of the finish away from what is behind it. One night does nothing visible. A hundred nights a year, for several years, takes the face off in flakes and sheets — and it does that to plaster that would have lasted decades anywhere warmer. Almost every exterior problem in this province either is frost damage or is the water that frost is about to act on.
Which makes the second fact more surprising: the province does not share one calendar. Across most of the Free State the dry winter is the exterior season, worked around cold nights. In the eastern highlands it is the exact reverse — midwinter exterior work is largely not viable at all, and the job gets done in the shoulder months either side of summer. Applying the Bloemfontein calendar to a building in Clarens or Phuthaditjhaba would put fresh plaster on a wall that freezes before it sets. The town pages carry the right one for each district.
What changes across the province
Sandstone in the east. The eastern Free State is built of it — farmhouses, churches, shops, barns and boundary walls. Sandstone is porous and has to release moisture through its face, so a hard cement-rich mix run against it holds water in the stone, which then spalls in the frost. The plaster can be replaced; the stone cannot. Compatible, permeable, lime-based materials are not a preference in that district, and Clarens, Ficksburg, Ladybrand, Smithfield and Fauresmith are where it matters most.
Salt in the west. Around the pan country at Dealesville, Bultfontein and Soutpan, and along the irrigated ground at Hoopstad, Jacobsdal and Luckhoff, the low-level damage is not damp at all. Salt is drawn up with ground moisture and crystallises inside the plaster, so the wall blisters and powders rather than cracking. The remedies are opposite: damp can be dried and repaired, salt-contaminated plaster has to come off, and sealing a salt-affected wall pushes the damage upward into material that was previously sound.
Ground movement in the goldfields. Around Welkom, Virginia and Odendaalsrus, decades of pumping water out of the ground changed how that ground behaves. As operations wind down and pumping regimes change, water levels recover and ground that moved one way can move again. It is slow and it is not a crisis, but it means movement here is not necessarily finished — a crack that keeps widening after a proper repair is worth assessing rather than filling a third time.
Industry and corridors. Sasolburg carries petrochemical fallout that attacks coatings chemically rather than just settling on them. The N1, N3, N5, N6 and N8 all cross this province, and along them diesel soot leaves a greasy deposit that will not rinse off — it needs degreasing, and on porous sandstone at Harrismith it needs doing carefully. Kroonstad, Springfontein and Fauresmith add rail vibration, and Fauresmith is unusual anywhere: the line runs down the middle of its main street.
Areas served in the Free State
Every town below has its own page covering local building stock, the problems that recur there and the working calendar for that district. Work is scheduled by district rather than by individual call-out, and in the eastern highlands and the far south that matters — the seasons are short and the distances are long, so combining several properties into one visit is what makes the work practical.
Mangaung Metro — Bloemfontein, its suburbs and the towns east
The provincial and judicial capital, its suburbs, the Mangaung township areas including some of the oldest surviving township fabric in the country, and the towns running east and south towards the Lesotho border.
Bloemfontein · Mangaung · Batho · Bochabela · Rocklands · Phahameng · Heidedal · Universitas · Brandwag · Langenhoven Park · Westdene · Willows · Bayswater · Waverley · Dan Pienaar · Bloemdal · Fichardt Park · Pellissier · Lourierpark · Botshabelo · Thaba Nchu · Soutpan · Dewetsdorp · Wepener · Van Stadensrus
Fezile Dabi — the Vaal, Sasolburg and the maize north
The mildest corner of the province and the closest to Gauteng. Petrochemical fallout at Sasolburg, dam-shore property on the Vaal, the Vredefort impact structure at Parys, and the rail and highway corridors through Kroonstad and Villiers.
Sasolburg · Zamdela · Deneysville · Refengkgotso · Oranjeville · Parys · Tumahole · Vredefort · Koppies · Kwakwatsi · Heilbron · Phiritona · Edenville · Kroonstad · Maokeng · Steynsrus · Matlwangtlwang · Viljoenskroon · Rammulotsi · Frankfort · Namahadi · Villiers · Qalabotjha · Tweeling · Cornelia
Lejweleputswa — the goldfields, the maize belt and the pans
Welkom and the goldfields, where dewatered ground is refilling as pumping winds down; Bothaville and the heaviest grain dust on the site; and the western pan country where salt in the soil, not damp, is what lifts the plaster.
Welkom · Thabong · Bronville · Riebeeckstad · Virginia · Meloding · Odendaalsrus · Kutlwanong · Allanridge · Hennenman · Ventersburg · Theunissen · Masilo · Bothaville · Kgotsong · Wesselsbron · Monyakeng · Bultfontein · Phahameng, Bultfontein · Hoopstad · Tikwana · Boshof · Dealesville · Hertzogville · Brandfort · Majwemasweu · Winburg · Verkeerdevlei
Thabo Mofutsanyana — the eastern highlands and sandstone country
The coldest inhabited part of the province, where sandstone is the defining building material and freeze-thaw is the defining problem. This is also where the working calendar inverts — see below.
Bethlehem · Bohlokong · Clarens · Fouriesburg · Rosendal · Paul Roux · Harrismith · Intabazwe · Tshiame · Phuthaditjhaba · Kestell · Warden · Memel · Vrede · Ficksburg · Meqheleng · Clocolan · Senekal · Matwabeng · Marquard · Reitz · Petsana · Lindley · Petrus Steyn · Arlington · Ladybrand · Manyatseng · Excelsior · Tweespruit · Hobhouse
Xhariep — the southern Karoo edge and the Orange
The dry, sparse south: the largest daily temperature swing in the province, decades of deferred maintenance, early lime-plastered and stone fabric at Philippolis, Smithfield and Fauresmith, and irrigation-fed damp along the Riet and the Orange.
Trompsburg · Springfontein · Edenburg · Reddersburg · Philippolis · Jagersfontein · Fauresmith · Koffiefontein · Luckhoff · Jacobsdal · Petrusburg · Bethulie · Gariep Dam · Smithfield · Rouxville · Zastron
Requesting a quote in the Free State
Give the town and the street or property name, say whether the work is interior or exterior and at ground or upper level, and send photographs of each affected surface in normal daylight. For older stone or lime-plastered buildings, a photograph of a damaged edge showing what is under the finish is worth more than any description. Request a plastering quote, or see all service areas.