Q. I have bought a house with wall tie corrosion and have arranged for a reputable contractor to remedy this. The contractor wants to pebbledash the outside once the work is done, to protect it but I would like to keep the look of the brick and re-point.  Is this an option or should I have the walls pebble dashed?  If it is an option what sort of mortar should I use? The original is black ash mortar (which I think caused the wall tie corrosion in the first place) and is there an invisible way to protect the finished walls.

Submitted by: J
 

A. If you like the look of your brickwork then try to keep it. The problem is there will be small holes in the bricks at roughly 900mm diamond pattern that will have to be made good where the new wall ties are fitted. Ask the contractor to collect the brick dust when drilling and mix this into the mortar to colour match. The bigger problem is the isolation or removal of the original wall ties if this is necessary. This may require bricks to be removed. If you are going to repoint then this should not be a problem. Once you have repointed you should apply 2 coats of a surface silicone water repellent which will do the same job a pebbledash without being seen.