Poor brickwork - render or pull out and redo?

Everywhere unfortunately. There are a couple of small walls where another (better) bricklayer was used and those areas are fine. I'd say about 80-90% of the walls have defective brickwork. The original bricklayer was sacked.

The mortar does not have enough cement and is starting to come away from the bricks and is cracked in a number of areas (especially around the taps). Some of the bricks are cracked as well, particularly around windows and doors.

Render for sure

I totally agree with Phoenix - her comments make absolute sense.

You surely don't want to render over defective brickwork - can you imagine your house 10 years down the track & what costly problems you might have then?

Your builder has to replace the brickwork, afterall they should have been supervising the brickie's work !? Why did they not pick up on the poor workmanship a lot sooner?

Also, ir you do finally render, it will mean high maintenance costs down the track - another reason for not going down that path.

Good luck

100% concur....my brother had a similar issue on his recently finished house....the builder wanted to bag over crappy brickwork.. They repaired it and was passed by an independent building surveyor as sound, but aesthetically it was awful. Bro ended up getting it bagged by as P said - not necessarily the "look" he was after - but at least he had the peace of mind that the brickwork was sound.

Get it rebricked...

It's easier to render down the track then to rebrick when the walls start cracking, and they will!

It is being re-bricked. The builder told me they have to rebrick the entire house because the brick batches might not match. They're going to do the house in sections to avoid exposing it to the weather.

I don't think they were too happy about it, but oh well.

Didims to them....good result to you....if they got it right the first time then.....?

Sorry, to here about your experience



I don't believe that is acceptable, you are not responsible for damage that occurs to any appliance, fitting, window, etc etc, that occurs during the construction. It's a simple legal principle which is embodied in the contract, by signing the contract you give you contractor "possession" of site, they are then responsible for the site. Until they hand the keys to you and give you back "possession" there is no way you can prevent damage and it's not your responsibility. It's usually the reason why they only install the kitchen appliance just before handover.

By example, when I had handover the super requested the final payment, I gave him all monies minus what I had calculated the liquidated damages at. he said I had to pay in full up front and then be reimbursed by the office. I told him if that was the case I wouldn't take the keys and he can be responsible for the appliances over the weekend....problem successfully resolved.



It's standard practice in single storeys (AFAIK) to vent the extraction fan to the roof space (yuk!!!) we had to pay extra for the vent. Just a tip when you get possession put a "Chinaman's Hat" on the vent....Bunnings will know what you mean. We had a couple of storms which left water on top of the hot plate, and the hat stops water coming in. They are generally simple gal finish which can be painted over.

Stand firm and you'll get through....six months in you'll forget about the problems you're having now.

Thanks guys.

I already have an inspector and he noted the brickwork quality and provided the impetus to get the brickwork redone.

Just on the rangehood, I'm almost certain venting into a ceiling cavity is illegal. My inspector told me it needs to be vented to the atmosphere. Just imagine some of that cooking oil and grease vapour liquifying and landing on an exposed downlight fitting. There goes the house in a ceiling fire.