Brickwork & Pointing

[dandare50]

Hello all,

This property dates from 1901 and has red brick walls.
As shown in the first picture the general pointing appears
to be in good order.
View media item 77782
Bricks seem very soft and porous
and dry out quickly after rain.

The area of concern in around the smaller window at the side of the bay.
This window sees the most damage from the SW winds/winter weather.
View media item 77780(sorry it's a portrait pic and showing landscape)

Most of those lines of pointing are loose. See pic where pointing has fallen out.
View media item 77781
I know this is only a small area given the size of the wall but I'd like to give it some attention if i can and would appreciate some guidance on the best way to approach this.

I'm suspicious that when it was last pointed a cement mortar was used and that could be why it's cracking it that area... not sure? Although the bricks don't appear to be suffering too much.

What would your opinion be?
If I were to try and re-point it should I go for a lime based mortar?

Thanks for reading.

Dan

 

[stuart45]

Use a lime mortar, possibly NHL 3.5.

 

[dandare50]

Use a lime mortar, possibly NHL 3.5.

Thanks Stuart. Do you think it's cement that's been used previously or lime that's lost it's effectiveness?

 

[stuart45]

The last pointing looks like cement, which can damage softer bricks.

 

[cannonfoder]

use a 5/1/1 mix 5 parts building sand 1 opc 1 part lime sorted

 

[stuart45]

use a 5/1/1 mix 5 parts building sand 1 opc 1 part lime sorted

Can be the wrong mix for older brickwork

 

[theoldun]

use a 5/1/1 mix 5 parts building sand 1 opc 1 part lime sorted

Much to strong for soft Reds and will dry out wrong colour.
Use NHL 3.5 lime mortar Will dry out approx same colour
Regards oldun

 

[dandare50]

Thank you all for your advice. It gave me the confidence I needed.

I did buy NHL 3.5 lime mortar and after a bit of practice on a much more-worse-for-wear piece of wall I feel ok at applying it.

I'll come back to that small area around the window shortly.

Dan