Brick wall help/advice needed

sanderson8322 · 30 Apr 2024

Hi,

My 90s (cowboy) single skin garage is a nightmare. The roof needs fully replacing and it also leaks from the sill/wall joint.

I have a trench around the base and a mortar fillet covered in waterproofed to deflect water away from the base. It it still seems to be leaking.

Based on the following images can anyone see any obvious issues with the brickwork or how it’s done?

Trying to avoid a full rebuild so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Stephen.

Deluks · 30 Apr 2024

Nice of the plasterer to empty his bucket in your trench.

The damp proof course should really be 2 bricks high, you might have to dig out some more, any french drain effort should be dug to below your concrete slab. And the slab should not protrude beyond the brickwork unless you have a proper dpm set up internally, which a garage probably won't have.

Does water sit against the wall externally?

Trim back that protruding dpc.
Bear in mind that single skin brickwork can have water blown through it, during periods of high wind.

sanderson8322 · 1 May 2024

Thanks Deluks for taking the time to reply.

Digging round the back was a nightmare all sorts of stuff smashed up and thrown behind over the years.

I’ll trim the dpc back and see how it goes next heavy rain.

No water sits against the wall now apart from one wall where I have no access due to a neighbour putting a fence up against the wall. The sill is really bad and sticks out about 6” from the base on all sides.

The wall I have no access to might need knocking down and moving in a bit to give me access to dig it out a bit. Was thinking of replacing with a dwarf wall with timber side but not seen anyone doing similar.

Massive pain this whole garage is, shame as a good size.

Mr Chibs · 2 May 2024

What about cladding the wall, once you've put a batten on and boards, this will protrude another 50mm from the wall and may stop the fillet getting soaked.

sanderson8322 · 2 May 2024

Thanks, that’s one to think about. Someone else law told me to tank the bottom three courses of bricks inside and outside but I’ve no experience with that.

Looks like it was tried I. The inside walls once but it’s chipping away I assume under water pressure.

noseall · 2 May 2024

sanderson8322 said:
Hi,

My 90s (cowboy) single skin garage is a nightmare. The roof needs fully replacing and it also leaks from the sill/wall joint.

I have a trench around the base and a mortar fillet covered in waterproofed to deflect water away from the base. It it still seems to be leaking.

Based on the following images can anyone see any obvious issues with the brickwork or how it’s done?

Trying to avoid a full rebuild so any advice would be appreciated.

View attachment 341690
View attachment 341691
View attachment 341692

Thanks,
Stephen.

If that is the toe edge of the slab, protruding past the wall (externally), then all the will in the world wont stop water getting in. Neither will the fact that it's a single skin structure built from crap bricks (low level DPC etc).
You may need to build a plinth or get clever with some lead flashing.

Mr Chibs · 2 May 2024

My brother used something he bought from Amazon to tank the wall, was fine for the a week or two, but was short lived. I'd be trying to stop the water from the outside first.

noseall · 2 May 2024

Mr Chibs said:
My brother used something he bought from Amazon to tank the wall, was fine for the a week or two, but was short lived. I'd be trying to stop the water from the outside first.

Liquid applied remedies won't work (for long) there.

Deluks · 2 May 2024

Has a similar problem with the bricks of my shed base.

To reduce water sitting against the brickwork, I took a grinder to it, cutting a very shallow channel up close to the brickwork, with slightly deeper channels coming away towards the edge.
By shallow I mean I just drew lines in the concrete with the grinder disc.
Painted brick sealer on the outside, and blackjack inside.

Made enough of a difference that I stopped noticing any ingress, but it does need to be kept clear of debris on the outside, (leaf blower does the trick)

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Brick wall help/advice needed

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