Water leaking through old walls

OneHalfMortgageFree

Hi

My house is very old and with the recent bad weather I've noticed most of the walls are now letting water through. I can't afford to have them all repointed so I'm looking for alternative options to make everything watertight.

I'm hopeless at this sort of thing so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

MovingForwards

Do the repointing yourself?
Watch YouTube videos to see how to do it.

FreeBear

MovingForwards wrote: »

OneHalfMortgageFree wrote: »

My house is very old and with the recent bad weather I've noticed most of the walls are now letting water through. I can't afford to have them all repointed so I'm looking for alternative options to make everything watertight.

Do the repointing yourself?

Old house, probably lime mortar. Dead easy to rake out with an old screwdriver.. OP - Do yourself and future owners a favour and use a pure lime mortar to repoint. Don't go adding a bit of cement "to help it set".

Anything else to make the structure "water tight" will trap moisture in the walls and lead to even bigger problems in the future - Rotting timber, wet/dry rot, and crumbling plaster internally are just some of the things to look forward to.

G_M

Here you go:





This will seal the damp within your walls, causing the internal plaster and decor to peel off plus cause mould.


Seriously, don't try to short-cut building repairs - do a proper job, either yourself or using a contractor.

If the pointing has gone, re-point. There's no sensible alternative. And if it's an old building, stone not brick, use a lime-based mortar.


https://www.mikewye.co.uk/guidesheets/lime-pointing/

Apodemus

G_M wrote: »

... if it's an old building, stone not brick, use a lime-based mortar.


https://www.mikewye.co.uk/guidesheets/lime-pointing/

Even if it is brick, it may still need lime pointing rather than cement - plenty of soft brick buildings have been ruined by inappropriate pointing over the years.