Don't use cement pointing on a soft brick wall

[AMc]

I walk past these garden walls in the village and every time I think I should share them as a warning to anyone with lime mortar and soft bricks not to let cement near them - at least these are just garden walls not the houses.

The walls are next to a B road with a tarmac pavement but no direct drainage so they get splashed with a lot of water during the winter.
You can see how the water has got in behind the mortar and destroyed the bricks leaving a spiders web of the cement repointing that gradually falls out
The same damage has been done to the walls of several gardens but another similar wall a couple of doors further up is in good nick - presumably because they used the right materials - its hard to tell under the moss and road grime.

 

[johnandrew]

AMc

Nice photos...

Our house wall is a mere 20 inches back from the road - a road that gets gritted. It has been repointed in cement (probably more than once) up to about 1m from the ground. I am planning to remove the cement and replace with a lime mortar. However, I think the constant splashing of water (and in winter grit salt) will continue to erode the stone at a fair rate even with a lime mortar. However, the lime should look so much nicer.

John

 

[Penners]

I walk past these garden walls in the village and every time I think I should share them as a warning to anyone with lime mortar and soft bricks not to let cement near them

An object lesson, AMC. Well done.