repointing quandry

[Anonymous]

Hello all,
Property-1899 end terraced,caked externally in cement render.
I have a half gable wall which is 9" solid brick up to ceiling height which turns into single brick through the roof void up to the roof.The existing lime mortar is soft to the point of powder,it can be removed with a paint brush!
So far I have been removing all of the mortar,in the roof void, right up to the render(!), one section at a time,but as some of the gaps between the bricks are only 3-4mm wide it is very difficult to replace with new mortar,and hard to know if the gap is 100% filled.I am concerned that when I eventually remove the external render will the wall be strong enough to withstand the necarssary chiselling.
As far as I can see my options are as follows,
1) continue with this method
2) do nothing,it's only in the roof void after all
3) prop the roof ,demolish and rebuild (drastic)
I tried to upload a photo but the file was too large.
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Regards Ian

 

[Anonymous]

Upload the photo to one of the picture hosting sites such as Photobucket, then just put the URL in the slot on this site's Post Response page and your picture will appear in its big size.

Dunno what you'll do with the wall though. Maybe add a layer of bricks internally to turn it into a 9" wall all the way up?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the photo tip Biff,I could add a second skin of brick to the existing wall however to tie it in I would have to replace some of the existing bricks which would mean breaking the render,did'nt really want to do that till later,could maybe use stainless steel ties (turboties-screwfix?) instead of bricks to tie it together.
Pics should be linked in this post ,here goes
Best regards,Ian