Single Brick Garage Wall, what would you do?

Max68 · 23 January 2023 at 2:11PM

In a block of four terraced houses two of us are having an issue with damp coming through the garage wall. The extreme wet weather hasn't helped and it's two of us whose garage walls that face the direction of the sweeping rain and wind. Started out as damp sandy areas on the floor. Nothing major and we both noticed the concrete was cracking at the bottom of the garage wall. We had some filler that we were going to use once all had dried out. However in the wet spell a few weeks back we both suddenly noticed rain was getting through the actual wall and creating damp areas on the floor, one in particular was puddling. I have placed plastic sheeting over the entire wall, it doesn't look great but it's helped to dry out the garage interior. The question is what do we do next? Last summer we both felt that both garage walls really needed repointing, but this issue has clearly shown that there are possibly small cracks and holes in the bricks themselves that repointing won't help. I'm currently looking to bring someone in for a quote to skim and render the wall, but like everyone else cash is tight at the moment. My neighbour who isn't having the issue said that another property he has is suffering the same and he is getting a waterproof sealant that he is applying to the wall, not sure if it is a spray or paint type, and he didn't say what the name and make is, but he said it is a cheaper option to repointing or render. I'm finding it hard to believe a waterproof sealant will address the issue long term but I'm no expert hence the question here. Does anyone have any experience of these waterproof sealants or in your opinion is it a case of biting the bullet and getting the thing rendered? Thank you.