Flaking brick repair

KingL

Hi there

I'd appreciate any help on this one. We have painted brick building and some of the bricks are starting to have the first few millimeters flake off. (see pictures).

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3569/p10208501.jpg
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9238/p10208482.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/9654/p1020847v23.jpg
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5422/p10208494.jpg


How would I go about addressing this? It's relatively superficial damage, so replacing bricks seems a bit extreme.

Local council regulations would require that the final finish looks like the existing one, so repainting will be required after any repair - does this create the opportunity for some kind of localised skim-coat of plaster/render/etc being applied to the affected bricks ? Or would it drop off when it gets frosty ?

It's dotted about over 4 floors so would be quite a hassle to access.

If we decided to initially take a short-term approach, is there anything that you can (for example) spray on, just to seal it and prevent further weathering until we can get around to arranging a more robust approach.

I'd be interested to hear about potential DIY and pro solutions.

Much obliged

mighty_mondo

Hi,

unfortunately i dont think there is much that can be done to repair the bricks other than cutting them out and replacing them, i have worked on renovations before where stonemasons repaired large sandstone blocks by drilling & inserting screws and then wrapping copper wire around all the screw heads to create a kind of grid that then gave a good key for a coat of mortar (it was then dimpled & painted to match the existing and looked spot on) but this would be to fiddly i think on a small brick

have you thought about treaating the exposed bricks with Thompson's water seal perhaps?

DVardysShadow

mighty_mondo wrote: »

have you thought about treaating the exposed bricks with Thompson's water seal perhaps?

I think that will exacerbate the problem. The damage looks like frost spalling, caused by the existing paint not letting the bricks breathe, leaving them damp and vulnerable to frost.

ormus

the best you can do there is to jet wash it all off and wire brush it. then repaint it in the same stuff.

KingL

OK for what it is worth, I have set up some scientific experiments to run over the winter.

Some contractors were doing some work down the road that involved making good a similar wall. I had a chat with them. They were just doing a skim coat of pure Portland cement, then painting it with waterproof masonry paint.


They let me have some of their stuff, so I have done 3 knackered bricks :

1: using a diy grid as a key (as per sandstone blocks post above) (chrome 1mm diameter tacks and galvanised wire), with pure portland cement over the top, then painted in waterproof masonry paint

2: portland cement straight onto a wire brushed brick, then painted in waterproof masonry paint

3: wire brushed brick, then painted with waterproof masonry paint (this looks horrible!)

Any other suggestions I should try out ?

I will tell youse which is still standing in the Spring

amarg

To be honest I would just knock off what is loose and repair with epoxy repair mortar, like they use for patching damaged concrete floors. Then paint it.

knowloads

Spalling is common on these types of bricks and un'fort'ly the paint is not helping keeping any damp or moisture underneath.
Decopierre or Weatherby's have a brick finish render, but they would probably want to do the whole house. there is also a company called Brick-Aid in manchester that offer brick repair and matching.