repoint or render

[crossercuss]

hi all... just want abit of advice please, i have a brick 1880's farmhouse of which the pointing is in a very bad way and some faces of bricks have come away and on the front of the house you can see where bricks have been added in the past and cement has been used instead of lime for pointing.. most of the house is lime pointed.. what i want to know what would be cheaper? either have whole house repointed with lime or to have whole house rendered? would render cause any other problems? ie . damp or other... any advice would be great... will post a picture of house so you get an idea...

 

[crossercuss]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/crossercuss/007-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/crossercuss/018.jpg

 

[paulandfrodo]

Can't really tell the quality. But I would always prefer to buy a normal brick house.. When I see render I always think what are they trying to hide. You can do most of the donkey work yourself and get someone in to repoint..

 

[stuart45]

I would re-point rather than render. If the render cracks it can trap moisture behind it and make the walls damp.

 

[crossercuss]

im thinking to repoint now after reading up on problems with render... do i have to use lime or would a weak cement mortar be ok? would i be better off leaving the job until summer? thanks

 

[stuart45]

Lime would be better, but if you do it in the summer protect it from the sun as it won't reach full strength if it dries out too quickly. In winter you have to protect it from frost and driving rain.

 

[The-brickie]

Search lime mortar for ready mixed stuff to point with, saves knocking it up every day and you know it will do the job in hand.

Yeah so I'm for re-pointing!