How to finish the exterior brickwork at the bottom of house

[mrkrunkles]

Hi, I have recently took back a slab patio away from our back exterior wall as we were having damp problems inside and the patio appeared to be too high and in direct contact with the wall.

Anyway I've dug down a bit where the slabs were and exposed a few more bricks in an attempt to reduce the ground height, but I don't know how I should be finishing the brickwork. The bricks above are painted with black masonry paint but I'm not totally sure this is the way to go or not.

The house is a solid brick pre-1900's terraced property.

Any ideas would be appreciated thanks.

 

[malcolm]

They would need to be lime pointed and not painted with anything waterproof so they can dry the wall.

I've got a black bituminous paint on my wall that I've not been able to remove. Below that the bricks I exposed are not coated with anything.

 

[mrkrunkles]

Thanks, I'm guessing I should try and increase the drainage of the ground around the wall? Water seems to puddle on the dirt rather than sinking in so I might investigate if there's much in the way of patio foundation left under it.

 

[a twig]

Might be worth putting in a French drain if the water isn’t going “away” of its own accord.