Just got my LBC - Yey!!!

[essexbearhunter]

No tie plate...in fact the whole porch was only tied in with a single brick towards the base of either side wall.

The tie plate that I caught sight of was on the wall of the house itself - that "S" -shaped piece of iron, at about the 2 o'clock position, in the brickwork surrounding the fanlight (visible in the shot of Ford Junior atop the wall.)

These plates are normally found at either end of a tie rod going right through the building to the opposite wall.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Pford75]

Finally finished stripping the Sandtex from the front elevation of the main house this weekend. Without doubt the worst, most horrible job I have undertaken...ever. (and I include removing 30 year old carpet and underlay from the bathroom floor... :x )

Some brick repairs required and hope to have the rest of the stripping done in time for limewashing in the Spring.

 

[piapiapiano]

How did you get the Sandtex off? We have a similar job in store for us and I haven't been able to find a conclusive answer to this yet. I was just going to get the local Blast-It man to come round and attack the walls (the Sandtex is on either bare stone or the modern cement-rendered extension).

 

[Pford75]

Definatelt do not use sand blasting....it will damage the stone underneath the paint. Probably the best option is to use Strippers of Sudbury NB410 (but do request a sample bottle first to check it's effectiveness on your paint). You paint this on, leave for anywhere between 20mins and a few hours, depending on thickness of paint and the ambient temperature, and then wash off with a pressure washer (preferably a hot water pressure washer)

Much gentler than sand blasting.

 

[Pford75]

The last of the paint stripping is finished (well, almost). It's been a horrible job and doing it around a full time job and busy family life has not been easy - Rough calculations are that we've stripped just over 10,000sq.ft of brickwork and flintwork. We have a date for the limewashing now (which I am not going to do myself) and am looking forward to seeing the house in it's new coat.

Question - How soon would people recommend doing some repointing?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Well done! House is looking lovely in that last pic you posted. I'm amazed you've been able to do it yourself, it sounds horrible.
We could still have a period of frost and snow, I'd be worried about that and lime work.

 

[Penners]

Rough calculations are that we've stripped just over 10,000sq.ft of brickwork and flintwork.

:shock:

Good grief! I think I'd rather have moved house! Many congratulations on your patience and persistence.

I agree with Joce's comments about repointing. There's still a significant risk of frost and even snow. According to the Garden Action website, in the Norwich area your last Spring frost will be in late April .

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/main/weather1.asp

 

[Pford75]

Thanks Penners....the last Spring frost date seems a little late (tempted to risk it before then and cover with hessian). Our current fixed scaffold is on a weekly rent, so I'd rather risk doing the small amount of repointing (and then redoing it if we get a frost....)

On the paint stripping, i'm not convinced we actually saved a lot of money (by the time we'd bought a scaffold tower, hot water pressure washer and the stripping chemicals) but we do now have some useful kit we can use elsewhere in our repairs. Although messy (and at times painful), it's been quite rewarding to have some this ourselves. Wouldn't want to repeat the exercise though

 

[Penners]

Wouldn't want to repeat the exercise though

Did you forget to add "in a million years!"?

 

[Pford75]

The limewashing has finally started! The contractors started this week and are focusing on a sort of 'internal courtyard' we have as this is more sheltered than the rest of the house. In some areas, where the brickwork is badly spalled (largely as a result of inappropriate paint/sandtex and pointing over the years) and on some of out flint sections, they are using Unilit. This is basically a lime and perlite slurry coat which acts as a breathable bonding/render. Have to say that I am impressed with the results already - will try to get some photos soon. It doesn't give a 'rendered' finish, but is does enough to address some cracks and badly spalled areas. I had used putty based 3.5:1 mortar to fill the spalled faces before the Unilit.

Very impressed with the knowledge of the contractors - they supplied some NT and EH references, so if anyone in the Norfolk area is looking for internal or external decoration, please PM me and I'd be happy to pass their details on. They certainly know their stuff with regard to lime and breathability. Will let you know how we get on with the Corical Lime when it is applied.

Thought i'd share this link to the Telling products - found it quite interesting
http://www.telling.co.uk/uploads/cms/files/lime/Lime Brochure 2008.pdf