Sandblasting/Sealing bricks

[simacc]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I have just had our Edwardian house sandblasted. They did a test patch first and looked ok, starting to think I should have paid more attention and looked a bit closer. The bricks do look to have been noticeably damaged, not really bad but you can definitely feel a rougher texture to our neighbours painted walls. Have we just made a huge mistake?! The guy who was in contact with my wife assured us that if done incorrectly it's bad but they do a test patch to see. I was going on their expertise as I don't have a clue about bricks. I'm worried as after looking on the net there are some people saying its a bad idea to sandblast bricks.

So now the potential damage has been done, what should I do? I asked one of the guys who was sandblasting the house whether I need to protect the bricks and he recommended thompsons water seal. On doing some more research I see that this is bad for bricks as it doesn't let them breathe. Our old flat suffered from weather damaged bricks from water entering, freezing and then expanding so don't want the same fate to befall our house. Then the house has been painted for many years and all our neighbors are the same so is this the best method?

Any advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Si

 

[conny]

If they are standard facing bricks I would suspect they have now been damaged beyond repair.

One possible remedy may be to have the elevation rendered but this may make it out of character with the rest of the houses in your area.

 

[tony1851]

Sorry, but you have learned the hard way.
Brickwork should not be sand-blasted.

 

[barefoot87]

Interested to hear how this turned out years later.