Crumbling/spalling brickwork - DIY or hire a pro?

[SRJDIY]

Hi all,

I have some crumbling brickwork on my house (see pictures) that I want to do something about before it worsens and weakens the wall/lets in damp.

However, not having any experience of this sort of thing, I've got a few questions:

• How urgent does the issue look?
• Is it something that I can fix myself, and if so, is that a good idea? Or is it far enough gone that I'd be better off calling in someone who knows what they're doing?

The house is a 1930s semi, for reference.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[cdbe]

Is it a solid wall?

It depends on your "bricklaying" skills. If you do it a bit at a time there's no structural reason why you can't replace as many bricks as you need to.

Some pictures further back to see the extent might get you better advice. Are the blue bricks original or a previous repair?

Often it's just the lower section of the wall and a common inexpensive remedy is just a section of waterproof render about a metre high above the dpc. Trying to match existing bricks and mortar can look very messy.

 

[SRJDIY]

Is it a solid wall?

From the survey we had done before purchasing: "The walls appear to be of 225mm solid brick. These are assumed to be solid walls with no cavity between the inner and outer layers."

It depends on your "bricklaying" skills. If you do it a bit at a time there's no structural reason why you can't replace as many bricks as you need to.

I've never laid a brick before, to be honest with you!

Some pictures further back to see the extent might get you better advice. Are the blue bricks original or a previous repair?

Those are the only picture I have. For context, the damage didn't spring up overnight; it's taken over 5 months to get to that stage (we bought the house in April) but may have been around before that. That said, it's definitely progressing; it was originally caused (or at the very least not helped) by some weeds growing in it that I killed, but bits have continued to flake off since then.

I don't know if the blue bricks are original or not.

Often it's just the lower section of the wall and a common inexpensive remedy is just a section of waterproof render about a metre high above the dpc. Trying to match existing bricks and mortar can look very messy.

How expensive is inexpensive likely to be? And how likely is an amateur like myself to make a botch of it? Also, how long is render likely to last compared to replacing the affected bricks?

Thanks for the response!

 

[Mr Chibs]

I think patching bricks in, is quite a skill, whenever I have done it, it’s never looked that good.

I saw a Bricky doing this for a minute, he took out the spalled bricks and turned them around, as the inner face looked like new... good if you are worried about matching.

I’ve just built a brick pier this way, by reusing bricks from an old wall, it worked a treat.

Like already mentioned, you can removed a brick or two without worry your house will collapse.

personally see if you can find a Bricky and get them to do it... you could remove them ready to save time/money.