Electrical Engineer SE5
New Member
Hi All,
My first post on here and I hope that someone can help me.
I have a Victorian semi detached (1898) with large stone pebble dash render externally. I'm guessing that the render has been on for decades, but ultimately I want to remove it.
Being aware of sustainable building solutions, I wanted to apply external wall insulation to do my bit for energy conservation as the walls dont have a cavity and they badly leak heat.
I had the new damp proof course injected (the original slate had failed) and this involved removing 200mm of the external dash/render - the bricks had seen better days to be honest but it's probably to be expected considering the age and that people put external render on to cover up bad brickwork... plus, semi detached and the exposed side takes a lot weather.
I'm now worried that if I remove the external dash render, the bricks will be in such a bad condition that I will have no choice but to redash or render - or worst still, I will need to replace the bricks. What worries me more is that numerous threads on this forum say that such properties should only use lime cement/plaster as the brickwork needs to breathe, and if the external dash render is not lime based there could be untold damage to the bricks underneath and all will need replacing.
I have some spalling bricks on the party wall up in the loft. Not a load bearing wall I know but it terrifies me that the same fate could be on load baring walls underneath that pebble dash.
Does anyone have any experience or advice here?
Sorry if this post is in the wrong section/thread group.
Many thanks in advance.
My first post on here and I hope that someone can help me.
I have a Victorian semi detached (1898) with large stone pebble dash render externally. I'm guessing that the render has been on for decades, but ultimately I want to remove it.
Being aware of sustainable building solutions, I wanted to apply external wall insulation to do my bit for energy conservation as the walls dont have a cavity and they badly leak heat.
I had the new damp proof course injected (the original slate had failed) and this involved removing 200mm of the external dash/render - the bricks had seen better days to be honest but it's probably to be expected considering the age and that people put external render on to cover up bad brickwork... plus, semi detached and the exposed side takes a lot weather.
I'm now worried that if I remove the external dash render, the bricks will be in such a bad condition that I will have no choice but to redash or render - or worst still, I will need to replace the bricks. What worries me more is that numerous threads on this forum say that such properties should only use lime cement/plaster as the brickwork needs to breathe, and if the external dash render is not lime based there could be untold damage to the bricks underneath and all will need replacing.
I have some spalling bricks on the party wall up in the loft. Not a load bearing wall I know but it terrifies me that the same fate could be on load baring walls underneath that pebble dash.
Does anyone have any experience or advice here?
Sorry if this post is in the wrong section/thread group.
Many thanks in advance.