clunch pointing

[munchingB]

hello all, ive bought a house that is built from clunch and brick, the front face and possibly the foundation being the clunch part (does that sound right-clunch foundations?-anyway thats how it looks to be from outside!). just wondering about a few sections of the stone work that have been repointed with cement and what detrimental effect this will have on the house. i understand that it should have been pointed with lime is that right so the wall can breathe? all the repointing seems to be along the lower part of the house too and i have it in my head that this will be a moisture trap or something and will cause damp on some ingress on the inside at some point in the future..? seriously dont know what im talking about other then a few bits ive read online but im led to believe the concrete needs chipping out and redone with lime? ...plus the concrete bits look seriously crip compared to the lime pointing.. cheers all

 

[jeds]

Oooh, thats some nasty looking cement pointing there. Ideally you'd remove it but depending on how hard it is that can sometimes do more damage. I might be tempted to try to age it down (maybe paint it with yoghurt os something) and monitor it for a while. You are right that cement pointing can cause damage but that is normally where the whole wall is sealed in and the vapour has nowhere to go. In your situation the vapour could just easily rise and escape over the top of the cement band.