Browse Forums DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair 1 Apr 03, 2024 9:05 pm Good morning All, Three years ago we bought our first house, 1978 ex govvie we have been renovating ourselves little by little. Most of it has been undoing the previous owner’s messed up handiwork and now we are dealing with some concrete brick spalling due to soil having been in contact with the render for years. As a result, render has degraded and in doing so it has pulled off some of the underlying brick as well. Nothing major yet but we decided to intervene before it is too late. Additionally, the level of soil outside the house was way higher than the soil in the crawl space, so underneath the house it has always been humid. No mould as it is ventilated but still. Now, we dug the soil away from the bricks and down to the foundation line, and I would like some advice re the following strategy: Remove loose render -> Fix the spalled bricks with cement repair compound, -> apply three coats of bitumen rubber to waterproof -> lay down geotextile, AG pipe with sock to drain water away -> cover with 10mm blue metal gravel -> keep soil away from the bricks forever. I am not a builder and the above comes from some google research . So please feel free to suggest changes and suggest materials/brands. Ps we cannot afford professional work to do this so we have to do it ourselves. Thank you all for your assistance!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Advice on Waterproofing brick veneer 2Apr 04, 2024 1:29 pm Id imagine a clear coat or some other waterproof sealer should prevent further brick spalling and you could potentially just fill it back up for another couple of decades of not needing to worry about it. The ag drain and aggregate may be overkill looking at your soil, You just don't want the soil being in contact with the bricks to prevent further spalling. So an introduction of a barrier could be sufficient, in which case there's multiple options and products that would likely be suitable, I could be wrong, but logically that just seems like the cheapest/most cost effective way of dealing with the problem at hand Re: Advice on Waterproofing brick veneer 3Apr 05, 2024 9:20 am Thank you ponzutwo for your feedback ![]() Re the ag pipe I am just concerned that the ground in front of the house slopes down towards the house and if we ever have another heavy rainy season I would want the water to go away from the house. Still overkill you think? Also what do you mean by “looking at your soil”? Are you referring to it looking dry? It was quite wet when we dug a couple weeks ago. Thanks mate for your advice ![]() Re: Advice on Waterproofing brick veneer 4Apr 05, 2024 10:11 am ![]() Thank you ponzutwo for your feedback ![]() Re the ag pipe I am just concerned that the ground in front of the house slopes down towards the house and if we ever have another heavy rainy season I would want the water to go away from the house. Still overkill you think? Also what do you mean by “looking at your soil”? Are you referring to it looking dry? It was quite wet when we dug a couple weeks ago. Thanks mate for your advice ![]() fair question about the slope. Re soil I mean that it doesn't look like reactive clay which swells and shrinks with wetness/dryness. If the floors in your house are relatively level, no material cracks in brickwork/plaster and the doors/windows all close freely, then chances are the slope isnt impacting the moisture levels around your foundations enough to be an issue. Its an old govvie, so any problems related to movement would be present. If theres no material issues, you could save yourself some work/money and put the efforts elsewhere, like whatever other aesthetics or Quality of Life stuff instead, We used pro clima walls and roof. It's a high quality product (good vapour permeability and water resistance) and can withstand UV for a long period of time. Pro clima's… 10 22554 As there is no sarking, there is a good chance that blow in insulation will be getting wet from time to time due to the rain water blown from the outside esp. during windy… 3 10526 Thanks for the detailed comments chippy, I'll use this as a guide. 3 19067 |