Victorian House - damp (i think) associated with render & mortar

Michael88

New Member
Hi, and thanks in advance to anyone who can offer some guidance. I have a victorian mid-terrace house with at least 1 damp wall. Taking one wall as case in point, its rendered on the outside up to about 1m high with sand & cement, and I think the mortar previously used to re-point is also poorly matched victorian brickwork. My questions are; 1. Are there any good tricks for removal of the sand& cement render without damaging the bricks? Is the plaster/ render inside just as important as the render outside for allowing the brickwork to breath? Is the mortar likely to be as much of an issue as the render, or is this much less important? and if re-pointing is worthwhile, will repointing up to a couple of metres be likely to be helpful (or must the whole wall be re-pointed)? Having got my wall repointed and re-rendered - can I combine this will using a line of dry rods (silicone release rods inserted into mortar line) at ground level to create a moisture barrier? On the inside, if the plaster is removed then my instinct is to dot & dab plasterboard onto the brickwork instead of re-plastering, which I assume would give the brickwork ample opportunity to breath - is this sensible?.... Again, thanks if you can offer any guidance
 
Top