Right now I am in the middle of a facade renovation, slated to take 19 weeks. It is a huge job. First, up went the scaffolding (clank, clank, clank), then the tarpaulin (flap flap flap). After that, plastic was put over all the windows (rustle rustle rustle). Off went the old pebbledash with drills (drrrrrrrr), then it was smoothed over (mercifully quiet), nets were nailed on (bang bang bang) and then cement was sprayed all over the walls (sploosh, splash, splash and drrrrrr as it hits the plastic over the windows). After two or three of these, pebbles mixed with paint are going to be sprayed over the wall as a final step. The masons start at 06.30 every morning and finish later and later as it stays lighter longer. It’s going to be a looooong 19 weeks. (The weirdest thing with this whole renovation is that I cannot see what the weather is like. I always look at the indoor/outdoor thermometer and out the window to get an idea of how to dress. Nowadays I have to rush downstairs in my pajamas for a quick peek. The internet forecasts are usually wrong as Stockholm is so big it can be doing different things in different places.)
Pebbledash is described by Wikipedia as a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel, and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the working surface with a trowel or scoop. The idea is to maintain an even spread, free from lumps, ridges or runs and without missing any background. Roughcasting incorporates the stones in the mix whereas pebbledashing adds them on top.
I have never found it particularly attractive. I grew up in a roughcast house and so I am used to it but if I had a choice I would not go for this surfacing at all.
And in slang terms, diarrhea is often called pebbledash. One can really picture why….