Crumbling brick wall

[Kimbo86]

Hi there,

Our house was built in 1910. We have a brick wall that surrounds the oven area. The top section of the wall still appears intact, however the lower part of the wall is crumbling. See attached photos. Could I please have advice how I may go about fixing the lower part of the wall?

Thank you so much for your advice!left side of wallright side of wallright side of wall

[BIM_Engineer]

Hi @Kimbo86
Unfortunately, the brick, mortar & work quality dating back a century ago was poor unlike today,
Ironically the plaster that has been removed , supposedly a design feature today, masked
Substandard masonry that doesnt meet todays Australian Standards (AS3700),

The cheaper option is to repair and replace the necessary bricks, re-plaster and Wallpaper.hth

[Brad]

Not helpful at all they were still using those bricks in 1955.

Maybe helpful earlier we talked about brick panels in another thread, they are thin bricks in a sheet with mortar so you can get the look of exposed brick without the sins of the past being on show.

[redracer01]

I agree with Bim on this one, need to disassemble and re-mortar the whole thing. Just to give you a birds eye view on the repair. You will need a structural engineer to determine if removing the bricks poses a danger to what it is supporting. You then can rent bracing poles to hold said structure. Disassemble from top to bottom. Perhaps acquire new bricks and reassemble. You will need to cook some place else for the mean time. The area must be prepped for a lot of dust and dirt. A good brick layer should be able to do this in 1 week but allowing for drying time and framing 2 weeks at most. Doing a patch job will not work and you will just end up removing your repair job. Measure the whole are to be repaired. Ask for a quote for new bricks. Other option is to remove bricks have it framed and just use plaster board for the whole thing.

[Jason]

Hi @Kimbo86,

Great to see you make your first Workshop post and receive expert advice. We look forward to seeing how this project progresses. Please let us know if you need further recommendations on how to proceed - I'm sure our members will be happy to help in any way they can.

Welcome to the community, and please let me know if you need a hand getting the most from the site. 

Jason