Advice About State of Brick Work

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by boxy911, Oct 28, 2018.

  1. boxy911

    boxy911 New Member

    Hi,

    Just after advice please...

    The photos below are my dads front bay wall. It's like this all the way across. Is it possible to repair the wall using pointing and rendering? Or is it beyond repair? I am prepared to put in the work if needed.

    I ask as we have little money so could do with repairing it rather than the cost of replacing it all.

    Thanks so much,

    Adam

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  2. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    With a wall like this you would normally suggest dismantling it, salvaging all the good bricks and rebuilding. However, laying bricks requires some skill or money.

    The problem you have is that the joints are very thin making re-pointing very difficult. You may want to give it a go and replace the damaged bricks where possible.

    Alternatively, you could try covering with a thin coat of render and then paint on top. Again it isn't an easy skill to master by you will get results quicker than rebuilding the wall and the render will help stabilise the brickwork to some extent
     
    Jord86 likes this.
  3. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Ain't many good bricks left in that wall.

    Rebuilding is the best solution.
     
  4. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Catch 22, no money for new but needs new coping stones for larger overhang if rendering the wall. If really brassic, I'd use a pressure washer to clean off the coping stones, point up and fill in the worst spalled areas, then paint the wall a dark colour with the coping stones a contrasting colour.
     
  5. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    I was pondering because so many of the bricks are damaged and are going to be hard to replace, whether using a pattern like this would possibly be easier and cope better with the irregular bricks

    upload_2018-10-28_9-50-18.png
     
  6. stuart44

    stuart44 Screwfix Select

    You might be able to reverse some of the bricks to get a better face. I would look at rebuilding the wall. It's not that many bricks, so if you did all the prep work you might find a Brickie to do the job for £100.
     
    KIAB likes this.
  7. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    If you could find a brickie that would rebuild a wall for a £100 send him my way
     
  8. stuart44

    stuart44 Screwfix Select

    If I lived along the road from him and he had all the bricks bumped out and the muck on the boards I'd do that for £100, but I'm not over greedy. It's a quick and easy job.
     
  9. Floggedhorse

    Floggedhorse New Member

    Its purely a vanity thing

    If you can afford to have a pretty wall - Replace every brick and possibly even new foundations - the cappings dont look that bad, you may be able to re-use them

    If you cannot - Leave it alone - its still stood up and will probably do so for the next 25 years

    Dont! render it! - it will just fall off.
    Dont point it! - You'll only highlight how bad it is.
    Dont paint it! - Will make the wall look a treat for about two months then the flaking will start... Paint the camouflage of a thousand sins - why would anyone?

    Take a brickies course at night school....
     
  10. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    Clearly it's not a vanity thing, the original poster has stated that he's prepared to put the work in to try to salvage what he can as they don't have fortunes to spend, hence why taking it down and rebuilding isn't a feasible option, or is paying to enrol on a night course in bricklaying which would take weeks or even months to achieve the skill required to take down and rebuild.

    SBR, mesh and render - perfectly achievable
    Pointing it- anything is better than what's currently there
    Painting it- preparation of the surface and painting with a masonry paint, perfectly achievable

    Perhaps you could suggest a more suitable alternative suited to a budget of bugger all?
     
  11. sospan

    sospan Screwfix Select

    Judging by some of his other posts as a "newbie", Flogged maybe a junior troll or been on the pop
     
  12. boxy911

    boxy911 New Member

    Hi all,
    Thanks for your input, it's been really useful. It's certainly not a vanity thing. This is my dad's house and I work fulltime so finding the time to do this will be tough, but I'll do it because...well... it's my Dad. I started work today and got rid of all the growth from the ground and put a layer of concrete down on the thin strip in front of the wall to stop any weeds growing back and potentially damaging any future work I do.

    I also scraped and removed any loose mortar and brushed the whole thing down ready to be pointed.

    Thanks again

    Adam

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  13. masterdiy

    masterdiy Screwfix Select

    Boxy, don't re-point, rebuild it.
    Proper job needs doing only once.
     
  14. boxy911

    boxy911 New Member

    Hi again all,

    I've been thinking and I just don't have the time to do all this. The rendering looks VERY messy and tricky.

    Is there any chance I could get away with just pointing in between all the bricks front and back, filling in the gaps where the faces of the old bricks have broken away (bringing it all level with the good bricks), coat the wall with some sosrt of waterproof and painting over it?

    I was going to use a high textured paint as I've used it before and it's incredibly durable and can take some stick. As it's thick it will also further disguise any unevenness.

    Does this sound like it could work? I'm sort of running low on options really.

    Thanks

    Adam
     
  15. stuart44

    stuart44 Screwfix Select

    You could bag rub it using a piece of sacking. Used to sometimes do it on the back of a 9 inch wall built in English bond when the back was to be painted. Quicker than pointing and fills all the joints. Similar to German smear.
     
    Jord86 likes this.
  16. boxy911

    boxy911 New Member

    I have no idea what any of this meant. Ha
     
  17. stuart44

    stuart44 Screwfix Select

    If you google bag rubbing or German Smear you will probably find some Utube videos which will probably explain the methods much better than I could. They are both quite simple.
     
  18. boxy911

    boxy911 New Member

    Okay, thanks Stuart44 I'll take a look

    Adam
     
  19. masterdiy

    masterdiy Screwfix Select

    boxy
    " Boxy, don't re-point, rebuild it.
    Proper job needs doing only once."

    You did say..." I am prepared to put in the work if needed."
    If you can't do it proper, best leave it alone.
    Get a local odd job man to give you a quote.
    There's nothing more horrible like a bad job.
     
    Floggedhorse likes this.
  20. Dam0n

    Dam0n Screwfix Select

    I just googled German smear and I'm now scarred for life... :eek:
     
    Jord86 and stuart44 like this.

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