Is it possible to repoint this?

[H0ckeynut]

I moved in last year, and have an old brick outhouse at the bottom which I'd like to make better use of. I want to make a cleaner water tight environment, because at the moment, the roof leaks and the brickwork looks in a bad state. I intend to claim the outhouse as my den/cave project place.

I would like opinions please on the best way to do some of these things, it going to be one of my projects for this year.

I was thinking first, re-point the brickwork inside, to get the structure more sound. And then when I get some half decent weather, get the roof off and put a new one on, ideally a transparent corrugated roof type.

The main area of concern I have is the brickwork and repointing. In some places the bricks are bad, and in others there are big gaps. Will re-pointing be OK there, and filling with mortar, or are the areas too big? Stuff with mortar and slate maybe?

Tools-wise, I was planning on not using an angle grinder, as I don't have one. And from what I can tell, even if I bought a cheap one for £25, the suitable blade seems to be about £50!!! Unless anyone has any better ideas?

I've attached a few pics to show what I mean. Does anyone have any advice?

This was my plan of attack:

• Re-point inside
  New Roof
  Drainage (From roof)
  Replace Window
  Replace Door
  Paint inside with masonry Paint
  Paint outside (it is already done, but needs a new coat)

Nice to haves:

• An outdoor tap in there, for when potting plants etc.
  Workbench
  Shelving

Thanks for reading,
David.

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[^woody^]

For some reason, your spell checker has written repoint instead of rebuild.
In which case a sledgehammer would be more useful than an angle grinder

Buy a Bosch green grinder for about £40. Use a proper 8mm wide carborundum re-pointing disk (about £2) and not a thin cutting disk or diamond blade.

Find out what is causing that massive crack and sideways movement

 

[H0ckeynut]

Oh dear, is it really that bad? It had crossed my mind.

Repointing seemed like cheaper and more achievable option, and one that I could do gradually over time. Even that I've never done before though.

But I don't think I can afford to rebuild it totally. Plus I can't mess with the back brick wall, as it runs the length of the terraced street. Though I could just build a breeze block wall upto the back wall maybe.

I suppose I could rebuild it in breeze blocks, but it would need to tie in the back boundary wall then, and would I need to worry about installing foundations etc then too?

Edit: You would need Silverlight installed, but here's a Photosynth of it to show you all the outhouse.
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=e255adcc-2bfa-4c4d-ba61-b2e4c9910aa8

 

[H0ckeynut]

Does anyone else have any other helpful opinions?

 

[ChapiTheBricky]

as long as it's just a shed and you don't mind a bit of hard work use a plugging chisel and mash hammer and/or a mortar pick. Personally i would render with a 1-6 mortar for a better appearance.

 

[H0ckeynut]

Thanks for your reply Chapi.

I don't mind the hard work of it. And I had considered rendering ovr it afterwards, but I wanted to do the repointing from more of a structural point of view. Would I be right in assuming that render alone would not do that?

 

[^woody^]

Pointing and rendering have no structural merit - they are merely weathering treatments

If those bricks are loose now, then they will be even loser when you knock them about for repointing, and will still be loose when pointed

You need to determine if the walls are structurally sound, as if not, no amount of pointing or rendering is going to make them any better

If they are, then yes just repoint them

 

[ChapiTheBricky]

woody's right, if bricks are loose at all these need to be taken down, old mortar cleaned off and rebuilt (this is a potential can of worms) if it's sturdy enough, rake out the loose stuff with the mortar pick and render, this will give a good "key" for the render