House woes
- Thread starter MatsyLR
- Start date
Soldato
You can see blown bricks on google maps!!!?
Soldato
£115k wouldn't buy you a flat down here - so I'm guessing you're some way up north.
I'd have it professionally rendered in white by a reputable builder. Get it done, out of the way and never to be an issue again. Will cost more than a grand - but I'd much rather the peace of mind that would come with it.
I'd have it professionally rendered in white by a reputable builder. Get it done, out of the way and never to be an issue again. Will cost more than a grand - but I'd much rather the peace of mind that would come with it.
Yeah its up north haha.
I've called the estate agent to get the brickie who did the sellers quote and I'm happy to go ahead as long as the repairs are done properly (replacing the bricks not just fixing the surface).
Caporegime
Is this your first house? Honestly I think you are worrying far too much about it. Those bricks have lost less than 5% of their total and will still be solid for years to come.
It looks to me that it was just a bad batch of bricks as it only goes up to a certain height.
Soldato
From your google maps comparison, it looks like they're all potentially liable to blow.
I think you'll be spending the next 10 years fixing the odd brick, unless you can protect them all from the elements.
Soldato
Looking at the bigger image - look like they may be blowing because the pointing has weathered away. Repointing it might resolve the issue.
Cripes....if you think that's bad, you want to see the state of the chimney on my 1900s terrace.
Some spalling on bricks isn't the end of the world, it won't suddenly fall down....not a hugely expensive problem to fix. Mine is sat on the 'to do in the next year' list.
Some spalling on bricks isn't the end of the world, it won't suddenly fall down....not a hugely expensive problem to fix. Mine is sat on the 'to do in the next year' list.
Yes its my first home (and probably my only home) I had a brick worker access the damage myself and he quoted upwards of £6k to fix the side of the house (replacing the bricks and repointing) seems very excessive. My dad is saying don't get it rendered as the bricks will still blow underneath and crack the render (he worked for a building society doing surveys until he retired). I have emailed a few places to see how much getting it rendered would cost (including red brick effect render)
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
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it wouldn't put me off. I'd be surprised if the repair was only £1k though.
where I live £1k wouldn't get a builder up the ladder, let alone actually do the work
where I live £1k wouldn't get a builder up the ladder, let alone actually do the work
Soldato
That sounds like a much more realistic estimate. Before they blew, the cost would have been less - as it would likely just be repointing.
Associate
It's not something I would particularly worry about.
We have a similar weather exposed wall/corner on our house that suffered some minor subsidence a couple of years back (stairstep cracks on bricks and some plaster cracking internally). I thought it was due to the weather exposure, but it turned out to be a particularly thirsty bush (hehe) at the bottom of the wall, causing shrinking/swelling of soil. The bush was removed and the problem went away. The insurance claim to repoint and repair plaster was not that big a deal to be honest and didn't affect the premium.
If you are renting now and looking to buy, you could perhaps reframe any delay in making a purchase as some additional months of rent down the drain, when instead you could be paying off some equity in a house. Balance that against the cost of cosmetic repairs and the feeling of having lost a house you really like.
We have a similar weather exposed wall/corner on our house that suffered some minor subsidence a couple of years back (stairstep cracks on bricks and some plaster cracking internally). I thought it was due to the weather exposure, but it turned out to be a particularly thirsty bush (hehe) at the bottom of the wall, causing shrinking/swelling of soil. The bush was removed and the problem went away. The insurance claim to repoint and repair plaster was not that big a deal to be honest and didn't affect the premium.
If you are renting now and looking to buy, you could perhaps reframe any delay in making a purchase as some additional months of rent down the drain, when instead you could be paying off some equity in a house. Balance that against the cost of cosmetic repairs and the feeling of having lost a house you really like.
I’m a surveyor.
It looks very much like a miss match between the bricks - those toward the bottom are clearly of a different batch to those toward the apex of the roof.
It’s not possible to say why this is happening beyond the usual frost damage etc, but given most of the damage appears to be happening to the bricks toward the roof, it would suggest they are of much lower quality than those lower down - it’s a possibility anyway.
based on this evidence, it would suggest to me that eventually all the bricks toward the top will suffer similar degradation. This can lead to damp penetration and more significantly costly repairs.
1k for the amount of damage up there doesn’t sound bad. There is actually quite a bit - cosmetic or not, once a brick starts to spall, it will just get worse and worse until the whole thing needs removing raking out and replacing. You can end up with quite the patchwork.
render would be wise as this should alleviate all of these issues - k-rend or similar.
It looks very much like a miss match between the bricks - those toward the bottom are clearly of a different batch to those toward the apex of the roof.
It’s not possible to say why this is happening beyond the usual frost damage etc, but given most of the damage appears to be happening to the bricks toward the roof, it would suggest they are of much lower quality than those lower down - it’s a possibility anyway.
based on this evidence, it would suggest to me that eventually all the bricks toward the top will suffer similar degradation. This can lead to damp penetration and more significantly costly repairs.
1k for the amount of damage up there doesn’t sound bad. There is actually quite a bit - cosmetic or not, once a brick starts to spall, it will just get worse and worse until the whole thing needs removing raking out and replacing. You can end up with quite the patchwork.
render would be wise as this should alleviate all of these issues - k-rend or similar.
Thanks for the advice.
Wouldn't getting render look...odd, all other houses are just red brick, would look very odd to have a random white/grey wall haha. I have saw they can do "red" render which I guess wouldn't look bad, but theres loads of stuff around about how high maintenance render is its very off putting.
Any idea what a render job would cost on average? wall is roughly 11M long 8/9M or so high. I've asked a few places around but they all say they need to physically go look and wont even give something in the ballpark of a "normal" job
I get its hard to guestimate though.This is the house to the right seen from the backyard.
The estate is in the middle of nowhere facing a very large field so probably is in the worse possible place. View from the wall in question, so the wind/rain gets battered against the side.
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Soldato
Have your had an in depth survey yet? Just a thought, but if the developer skimped on bricks - what else did they skimp on?
This is probably why so many houses up north are made from stone instead of brick.
This is probably why so many houses up north are made from stone instead of brick.
Soldato
Replace bricks paint it with storm dry and then forget about it. I wouldn’t loose a house I really wanted if that was the only issue I assume you have had some sort of survey?
After some investigation it looks like I'm pulling out after all. It seems for whatever reason the damp proof course has been buried under the patio around the entire house (its on a slight slope). The front looks fine but the side and back wall at the bottom is eroding away with moss growing as well. Who knows how much damage that has caused under neigh. Waiting on estate agent to get back to me about it.
front looks like this but its hard to get pictures without driving there
front looks like this but its hard to get pictures without driving there
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