I think I might have a problem with some spalling on the internal face bricks of my old chapel (1817).
This chapel is one large rectangular open space (4 external walls and a roof) with a 1st floor balcony on three sides containing box pews to the front of the balcony and bench seating to the back of the balcony the latter of which is up against the internal face of the external solid 9” brick walls.
Above the bench seating ‘backs’ there is a series of sash windows ( 4 on each of the two side elevations and three on the front façade). Between the windows there are lath plaster panels which stand proud of the brickwork by about an inch or so and these are held to the wall with a series of vertical timber batons which in turn are connected to wooden pegs buried into the lime mortar pointing of the walls. This arrangement means that if you get down on the balcony floor and under the bench seating with of a torch, you can look up for several feet behind the bench backs and lath panels.
The ‘hidden’ internal face of the brickwork behind the bench backs and laths is a bit rough and thrown together as you would expect considering it was designed not to be seen, and some of the bricks look pretty spalled. On the other hand,the fair face elevation of the building outside is in pretty good condition.
My concern is that the hidden internal face behind the benches and laths tends to give of a lot of brick and lime dust which is evident on the balcony floor underneath the benches. When I come across it, I just hoover it up but when I get around to inspecting it again maybe two or three weeks later, there s another scattering of dust. I did try reaching up as far as I could behind the bench backs with a thin stiff brush and brushed the brickwork that I could access but this was a bit of a pointless excercise considering the wall extends up behind the laths for about 12 ft or more to ceiling level.
Is this something I should be concerned about?
This chapel is one large rectangular open space (4 external walls and a roof) with a 1st floor balcony on three sides containing box pews to the front of the balcony and bench seating to the back of the balcony the latter of which is up against the internal face of the external solid 9” brick walls.
Above the bench seating ‘backs’ there is a series of sash windows ( 4 on each of the two side elevations and three on the front façade). Between the windows there are lath plaster panels which stand proud of the brickwork by about an inch or so and these are held to the wall with a series of vertical timber batons which in turn are connected to wooden pegs buried into the lime mortar pointing of the walls. This arrangement means that if you get down on the balcony floor and under the bench seating with of a torch, you can look up for several feet behind the bench backs and lath panels.
The ‘hidden’ internal face of the brickwork behind the bench backs and laths is a bit rough and thrown together as you would expect considering it was designed not to be seen, and some of the bricks look pretty spalled. On the other hand,the fair face elevation of the building outside is in pretty good condition.
My concern is that the hidden internal face behind the benches and laths tends to give of a lot of brick and lime dust which is evident on the balcony floor underneath the benches. When I come across it, I just hoover it up but when I get around to inspecting it again maybe two or three weeks later, there s another scattering of dust. I did try reaching up as far as I could behind the bench backs with a thin stiff brush and brushed the brickwork that I could access but this was a bit of a pointless excercise considering the wall extends up behind the laths for about 12 ft or more to ceiling level.
Is this something I should be concerned about?