I live in a 1905 red brick terrace with, AFAIK, lime mortar. Previous owners have basically done no maintenance and the weather-facing walls are now in a poor state.
In particular:
- previous motion has cracked the mortar (motion now stopped).
- water-proof glaze has gone, leaving the surface porous.
- mortar very crumbly.
- previous repointing job rather dodgy --- the new pointing is only a millimetre thick, and is flaking off! Plus someone tells me it's cement, not lime mortar, which is apparently bad.
- major spalling issues in the last winter.
- all quite damp
The sheer badness of the wall became apparent during the big freeze when quite a large chunk of surface material fell off, leaving a cavity about 10-15mm deep in one of the bricks. I painted on silicone brick sealant in a desperate attempt to reduce further damage, but it's apparent that I need to get this fixed properly ASAP.
Unfortunately my budget is kinda limited. Can anyone suggest a cost-effective means of sorting the wall once and for all?
My initial thought is to get it all rendered and harled. This would replace the surface coating, protecting the elderly brickwork from the elements, and would make any underlying repair much easier to do, as I don't need to do brick matching. But I simply don't have enough knowledge to know whether this is a good idea, and what else needs doing to it. For example: if I'm rendering, do I still need to replace damaged bricks and redo the pointing? I suspect I would, but for financial reasons I'd very much rather not! Is the cement-vs-lime thing really a problem? If so, what should I do about it?
Any advice gratefully appreciated!
In particular:
- previous motion has cracked the mortar (motion now stopped).
- water-proof glaze has gone, leaving the surface porous.
- mortar very crumbly.
- previous repointing job rather dodgy --- the new pointing is only a millimetre thick, and is flaking off! Plus someone tells me it's cement, not lime mortar, which is apparently bad.
- major spalling issues in the last winter.
- all quite damp
The sheer badness of the wall became apparent during the big freeze when quite a large chunk of surface material fell off, leaving a cavity about 10-15mm deep in one of the bricks. I painted on silicone brick sealant in a desperate attempt to reduce further damage, but it's apparent that I need to get this fixed properly ASAP.
Unfortunately my budget is kinda limited. Can anyone suggest a cost-effective means of sorting the wall once and for all?
My initial thought is to get it all rendered and harled. This would replace the surface coating, protecting the elderly brickwork from the elements, and would make any underlying repair much easier to do, as I don't need to do brick matching. But I simply don't have enough knowledge to know whether this is a good idea, and what else needs doing to it. For example: if I'm rendering, do I still need to replace damaged bricks and redo the pointing? I suspect I would, but for financial reasons I'd very much rather not! Is the cement-vs-lime thing really a problem? If so, what should I do about it?
Any advice gratefully appreciated!
