Dear all,
I would be really grateful if a knowledgeable person could advice, apologies if this question is daft.
I moved into a property built in 1988 two months ago (brick outer leaf and breeze block inside with rockwool insulation inbetween) and noticed that the pointing over the damp proof course had eroded and the black plastic was visible in many areas, other areas of the wall were fine, no damp, subsidence or movement reported in the home buyers survey. The soil in the area is heavy-shrinkable clay.
I used a rough mix of 3 sand to 1 cement (no lime) plus some brick coloured cementone dye, used a wire brush to remove loose bits above and below the DPC, sprayed water, and then a cake icing piping bag (watched a video on youtube) to fill the gap (between 5mm and max 10mm - as i didn't use a chisel, just a wire brush the gap was pretty small) and smoothed it over. I did this all around the house - all 4 sides. See image 1. Been a month now.
I was telling someone at work about it and have been warned about spalling due to the bricks not being able to breathe and reading on the internet feel I have done something stupid. I went around the house to inspect and have noticed some "darker coloured areas", doesn't feel damp to touch, could be poor dye mix - see image 2.
Can this one brick line of cement-without -lime pointing (all around the house though) result in spalling? I tried to knock off some of it with a long nail and hammer but it is quite hard and I am worried I will damage the DPC in the process.
Do I need to get a chisel/ pointing rake and remove it all and redo with lime mortar, or just leave it and worrying for no reason?
I would be really grateful if a knowledgeable person could advice, apologies if this question is daft.
I moved into a property built in 1988 two months ago (brick outer leaf and breeze block inside with rockwool insulation inbetween) and noticed that the pointing over the damp proof course had eroded and the black plastic was visible in many areas, other areas of the wall were fine, no damp, subsidence or movement reported in the home buyers survey. The soil in the area is heavy-shrinkable clay.
I used a rough mix of 3 sand to 1 cement (no lime) plus some brick coloured cementone dye, used a wire brush to remove loose bits above and below the DPC, sprayed water, and then a cake icing piping bag (watched a video on youtube) to fill the gap (between 5mm and max 10mm - as i didn't use a chisel, just a wire brush the gap was pretty small) and smoothed it over. I did this all around the house - all 4 sides. See image 1. Been a month now.
I was telling someone at work about it and have been warned about spalling due to the bricks not being able to breathe and reading on the internet feel I have done something stupid. I went around the house to inspect and have noticed some "darker coloured areas", doesn't feel damp to touch, could be poor dye mix - see image 2.
Can this one brick line of cement-without -lime pointing (all around the house though) result in spalling? I tried to knock off some of it with a long nail and hammer but it is quite hard and I am worried I will damage the DPC in the process.
Do I need to get a chisel/ pointing rake and remove it all and redo with lime mortar, or just leave it and worrying for no reason?
