Bubbling brickwork under exterior paint...HELP!

LandyAndy

FreeBear

bubaloo wrote: »

My house was built roughly 1930s and I think it may be cavity wall?

So at a guess, a typical inter-war semi, bay fronted with a rendered upper half.

The window boards on the ground floor will be around 220mm wide for a cavity wall, and if upstairs is solid brick, the boards around 150-175mm wide.

If your house is anything like mine (a late 1920s semi) with a rendered upper half and soft red facing bricks on the lower half, you have problems. Moisture is getting in behind the paint and soaking in to the bricks. During the winter months, this moisture is freezing and causing the bricks to spall (crumbling away). Whilst initially it may be efflorescence causing the paint to bubble, rain and frosts is accelerating the decay.

The long term solution is going to be expensive - The paint needs to be removed (either grit blasting or needle gun), any bricks decayed beyond repair will have to be replaced. Then to smarten up the damage, a breathable render should be applied - Preferably lime based, and then lime washed every ten years or so.

Note: K-Rend is not breathable in the same way as lime renders despite what some claim.


Short term fix would be to wire brush off the loose paint, slap a coat of Sandtex on and then move on. This will leave the next owners the same problem in five years or so.

TomSawyers231

I totally agree with FreeBear as I had the same problem. We used Limetec Lime render for our barn conversion and the chap even came out to site to evaluate it for us and told us about best way to fix it and had a choice through colour renders for us so we dont have to paint it every few years.

bubaloo

Thank you FreeBear! Yes it is a semi with bay window and render on the top half. Do you know by any chance a rough cost on the work you have mentioned? I want to have a rough idea for when I get some quotes from builders. Thanks for your help everyone!

FreeBear

I'm afraid I couldn't give any guidance as to cost - It is the sort of job I'd tackle on my own to keep costs down.

Stripping off the existing paint will be time consuming, and there are few tradesmen around experienced or willing to render with lime - Lime is just as easy to work with as cement renders, but does require a little more thought & time.

bubaloo

Thank you for your help! I am going to get some quotes from a few builders and go from there. I will find out from my home insurance whether it would be something we can claim off them also.