Parapet wall - re-rendered with lime vs. concrete mix

[lizziecupcakes]

Hi all
Some of you might already know about a leak we are getting in the main bedroom (soaking the bricks it seems) and we think it’s from the parapet wall (roofer and stone mason said it has a lot of cracks in it they have seen some moss growing spots).

Since we’ve had some good weather for a few weeks now, the damp is drying out. I’m sure it’s still in the bricks and this will take ages to dry out though.

Anyways, I got a quote from a guy who seems experienced about repairing these and the part of the parapet wall I need done is probably about 3 metres, from the front to the chimney. he quoted £1700.

He said he will use a light to medium demolition hammer and then he’ll apply probably mesh and concrete mix. I’m not sure the exact material, but it feels quite pricey.

I am interested to know if anyone has had parapet wall rendering done and how much it cost?

Thank you

 

[alexander]

definitely would not be using wire mesh & concrete, personally the last one We done we used a code 5 lead to cover & protect the wall from water ingress, it will take time to dry dampness generally dry's at a rate of 1 inch per month. the price may seem excessive maybe it would be prudent to get someone else to price the job & compare

 

[jsmac]

What you're describing sounds like the issues we had with the parapet wall on the front elevation of our house when we first bought it. The wall had clearly been leaking into the front bedroom ceiling for many years and the elderly lady who lived there on her own had no doubt been taken advantage of from some of the more unscrupulous chancers that call themselves builders and roofers.

Your description of a wall with cracks and moss sounds familiar. After having about a dozen 'roofers' round to investigate the issue we finally found one who came up with a plausible sounding solution. We know a lot more now than we did then but even with our limited experience some of the suggestions offered up sounded like nothing but an excuse to take our money. The top of the parapet wall was capped with roofing tiles which were cracked and broken. The mortar had failed and the wall was soaking. The solution was to remove the broken tiles back to brick and cap the wall with lead and coping stones. It seems so obvious now but having listened to so many so-called roofers crashing about on the roof I can't for the life of me understand how there was only one who suggested this.

I'm not suggesting that what your roofer has proposed wouldn't work but for the record at some point in the previous decades a similar sounding solution was undertaken on our parapet wall. The original render had been removed and the parapet wall re-rendered in a strong cement - although curiously nothing was done about the broken tiles capping the wall

We have now removed the cement render and repaired the damage caused to the parapet wall with new some new brickwork and several courses of helical bars. The brickwork behind the cement render was still wet. We didn't want to have to completely rebuild the parapet wall and the damage from the render to the face of many of the bricks is too significant to leave it uncovered so we will be rendering the first 6 - 8 courses of bricks from the roofline down in a lime render.