Recent content by stuart45

I think you'd be lucky to get a painter back to repair hairline cracks that have opened up some time after the job was finished.

I've had the best results for minor plaster cracking using the tape and fill method. I normally bed on paper tape and 3 more coats using Knauf fill and finish. It sands down to nothing, so when painted shows no edges.

I'd guess only the blockwork is getting rendered. Normally you'd set the soldiers out a bit from the blockwork to allow for the render.

The MOT will be quite solid.

It used to happen quite a lot on site years ago, when there was only 9 inches of concrete and quite a few courses of brickwork to get up to damp. When you got to the 1st face work course the lines got strung up back on the profiles and the brickwork was reset to the lines. The face bricks were...

The problem with theoretical designs is that sooner or later some bricky comes along and fills up the weep holes when he repoints the house, or spiders build their nests in them and block them up. Maybe air bricks were the better option.

I think the main point that the later info made was that the cavity should be ventilated, but the amount of ventilation given by air bricks was excessive, and enough was given by weep holes. I can see how it works on your house, as you've got internal insulation and well placed 9x3 air bricks...

In fairness to ree, the advice about air bricks being used for ventilation of the cavity was changed later on. From W B McKay in the 30's. ' An important matter affecting the heat insulating value of a cavity wall is the extent to which the cavity should be ventilated. Formerly, it was generally...

High and low level air bricks as cavity vents stopped being used years ago, because they caused cold spots on the inner skin, and increased the U value of the wall to more than a 9 inch solid wall. Ventilation in the cavity is still required for timber framed houses, but a more even flow is...

Softwood timber windows were normally built in using frame cramps, although hardwood ones with an unpainted finish were usually fitted at the end of the job. If it's face brickwork you might need to tooth out the brickwork a fair bit to get it to look good against the frame. You don't want a...

Is it a timber or plastic window?

NHL 3.5 goes off almost as quick as a 6/1/1 mix when you are repointing.

It still looks like cement/building sand. The reason you can't see the larger grains is that when you joint up with a metal tool it brings a cement laitance to the surface. That might have been repointed in the past. The style is weather struck, and done with pointing trowels. Here's some steps...

As Charlie said, most 50's construction used cement mortar with lime added as a plasticizer. Sand/cement mortar is not very workable without lime or plasticizer added. Building sand looks like in the photo once the surface has weathered. A course sharp sand would be hard to work with.

You can if you want, but it goes off really quick, so you need to work it into shape really quick. Probably best to mix up just enough for one side at a time. Normally when a drain is in use you block the inlets long enough for the final set. The benching normally doesn't get much over it in...