Rendering to DPC

[Leoric66]

Hi there,

I have a house that was built around 1890 and is of brick construction with a rendered band running around the base which also forms square edged columns around the front door. Until recently the house had a concrete front garden that met the building at the level of the base of the grille ventilating the ground floor cavity.

I have removed the concrete slab as it was falling toward the building and was, I thought, too high in relation to the ventilation grille. Removing the concrete slab exposed the DPC visible at the level of the base of the grille (see images). To be 'belt and braces' I removed the render one course above the dpc and injected Dryzone into the mortar joint.

My questions are
- if i lower the new front garden level to 150mm below DPC im going to be very nearly on top of the brick tier foundation, is this a problem
- I want to reinstate the render band as all the other houses have them and it also forms part of the elevation detailing around the front door, but have read that the render shouldnt go past the DPC. If i stopped the render above the DPC and dropped the ground 150 i'd be left with a band of fairly tatty looking bricks (seeimages) that have been underground for the last 40 years. How could I finish this without compromising the damp proofing?
- should I install a french drain of some kind?

Many thanks in anticipation for your help.

Untitled

• Leoric66
• 8 May 2013
• 1

Untitled

• Leoric66
• 8 May 2013
• 1

Untitled

• Leoric66
• 8 May 2013
• 1

 

[Alastairreid]

You fit a bellcast bead along the line of the dpc and render down to and below it.

 

[Leoric66]

Thanks Alastair, assume i would leave a render 'gap' along the line of the DPC? Could this be filled with colour matched silicone/mastic? Otherwise a render gap might look odd.

Also, do you think relandscaping so close to the top of the foundation is a problem if i lower ground level to 150 below DPC?

 

[stevethespreader]

assume i would leave a render 'gap' along the line of the DPC? DPC?

no render up to the bead, there is also another way to not breach the damp course and that's to render all the way down to the ground and then cut a thin line in the render with the edge of a trowel this will be enough to stop the dpc being breached and the line will become a feature

 

[dpt]

The band may be pozzolanic plaster, sets very hard like concrete and is water resistant. If you use a pozzolanic plaster you should be able to re instate the band to ground level.