a do-er-upper - brickwork protection

[littlebluecottage]

hello all,

I stumbled on this forum looking for some advice regarding a property my partner and me have landed ourselves with. Its listed Grade II and is in terrible condition, not only from neglect but original construct must have been from the village idiots. Anyway we are progressing with the major structural works at the moment and hoping to make the place safe in the near future. Which will mean we will be then looking into insulation, which is the basis for our main questions. So first up is protecting the brick works...

Most of our walls are single brick and are in a bad way from wind driven water damage, we want to look at putting some sort of bonding on the outer skin to protect the brickwork, any recommendations?

thanks.

 

[GRADE_II_MONEYPIT]

Welcome to the forum

Would be interested to see the condition of the brickwork in a photo to meaningfully comment (it might not be as bad as you think).

But in the absence of more info I assume it has been re pointed with sand and cement in more recent years which will excelarate any deterioration of the softer handmade bricks. Re-pointing in lime mortar and replacing or turning the worst spalled bricks would be preferable than rendering in lime if the house was not historically rendered.

One bit of advice is avoid impermeable paint finishes to the brickwork at all costs.

 

[worms]

Yes, welcome!

original construct must have been from the village idiots...

In defence of village idiots everywhere, if it has survived long enough to become a period property they can't have done too badly! I'm not sure we will be able to say the same about many of the buildings currently being built!

It might be interesting to run some of the "idiot" construction issues past the folks on this forum to see if they are common and what solutions have been used (if they are indeed problems). In my (even more) naive days, I had builders and estate agents want to rectify all manner of problems, but fortunately lack of cash meant that I didn't make some of the mistakes that I might have.

 

[Flyfisher]

Welcome to the forum.
The instinct to waterproof brickwork to provide better weather protection can often lead to complications due to reduced breathability of the structure, so rushing in may not be the best thing to do.

Photos would certainly be useful and an approximate location might also help (county is fine) to better understand the nature of the problem.

As the house is listed there is also the issue of listed building consent. Have you been in contact with the relevant council conservation officer? I'm sure they'd be interested and helpful regarding your plans to help preserve what sounds like a rather neglected building.

 

[AMc]

Most of our walls are single brick and are in a bad way from wind driven water damage, we want to look at putting some sort of bonding on the outer skin to protect the brickwork, any recommendations?

Single brick or solid brick with two courses laid together horizontally?

The damage you see may well be the result of a previous waterproofing coat. Old bricks can't be impermeable due to the nature of the structure, so the water soaks in behind the coating, freezes and then the faces come off in big chunks.
Once the external fired surface is damaged the brick can deteriorate much faster. This can also be caused by pointing in mortar which is waterproof and stronger than the brick (grey cement is often visible when lime based mortar is often more beige).

In either case the building has survived a long time without being coated in plastlcs and is likely to survive longer without applying one in most cases. I would have a try at talking to your local conservation officer if you can.
SPAB are also helpful
http://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-2-brickwork/