I live in a sandstone tenement block. Outside one of my windows the sandstone has started to crumble.
(This is a mutual repair that will require the consent of a majority of the owners with legal provisions if consent cannot be obtained. This is not the subject of this posting.)
Is there any form of temporary repair that I could and should be undertaking to prevent further deterioration until permanent repairs can be carried out taking account of the winter weather conditions.
Not really. You could fix a cover over it; a piece of tarpaulin or something.
Bill
If the cause is freeze thaw damage, and it usually is, directing water away from it can stop it. You'd need to know more what's going on before doing anything else
I used to get spawling, brick surfaces eroding owing to the ingress of water. This had been caused by a paved patio being right up to the house. That wa cured by getting someon to cut the paving leaving an approx 6 inch trough al the way along. I fiolled that with medium-sized stones.
The main problem was to restore the bricks. I mixed rapid setting mortar with a plasticiser. It worke a treat. I finished all off with an exterior paint, matching the wall.
My pal Ray needed cure an unpainted wall with bricks of varying red-brown colours. He used dye. They used to stock it in Homebase but my nearest one closed down. I would try something to match your stone.
HTH, Alan
The problem is that if you try to stabilise the erosion by getting back to a firm surface, you might get accused of causing damage. There used to be some stuff for hardening off sandstone and other crumbly surfaces. You don't say how far up from the ground it is, or whether the sandstone is just a very thin cladding to make the block look right. Is it under collective ownership, or is everyone leasing or renting? What about preventative maintenance in the original contract and who pays for it. Brian
It's a tenement so there is specific law to cover all aspects of rights and responsibilities. See Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 (needs to be read in conjunction with the OP's deeds).
If you want to ensure further degradation that'll do it
Yes, I have done all that. The Factors have said the work is not urgent at the moment. The owners have voted 4-4 so there is no majority decision to proceed.
I am looking at section 8 as an option but, although the wall is clearly intended to provide shelter or support, my concern is that in the absence of evidence that shelter or support is compromised, I may face an argument that the repair is not necessary. I would prefer the Factors - or a suitable competent person - to determine that it is. I am in discussion with the Factors and a stonemason is due to visit.
My question to the group was whether there is anything I should do to to mitigate the loss (if the stonemason is delayed due to Christmas / New Year / weather).
Out of interest, if terms of (section 10, do I have a duty to obtain competitive quotes or can I instruct a contractor of my own choice and simply recover the cost? Do the words 'had the maintenance been carried out by virtue of the management scheme in question' create a need to obtain competitive quotes?
Sand/Lime OTOH plays well with sandstone, and can be used. Porous enough to let damp evaporate, and doesn't trash the stone when it eventually fails. It's not usually needed & is ugly compared to stone, but if it is necessary lime works. Cement also damagess the stone if slight movement occurs, which is not unusual on old walls. From here we can't know what you actually need to do.
Good point. As I explained to Rob, ultimately the repair needs to be carried out professionally as a common repair with the cost shared amongst all proprietors. My question at the moment is whether there is anything I can do just to minimise further damage until the repair can be undertaken without making the stonemason's job more difficult of course.
I'd have thought that a splash of the right dye would make it blend pretty well. There are specialist lime mortar suppliers that will match a sample of old mortar, I wonder what would happen if you sent them a bit of sandstone.
I was replying to Brian, I don't have any experience with Scottish property law.
Sorry. I assumed when you mentioned the Act you had some knowledge of it.
If the damage is progressing, lime usually stops it by moving the saturated outer layer into the lime, ie the lime becomes sacrificial. Lime is super easy to use, this is the wrong time of year though. Perhaps you could make it work with antifreeze but I don't know.
Yes renders can be dyed, even quite skilfully, but dye is not permanent, and tends to fail streakily. Easier to accept a white finish if acceptable.
That's the extent of my knowledge, I'm afraid.
The very rustic and soft finish of the bricks used around my front door, began to spall quite badly. What I did, was removed all the loose surface and refaced with a strong mix of sand and cement, to match as best I could the sound bricks. Once thoroughly dry, I painted all the rustic bricks with masonry paint.
That was several years ago, it has worked fine and several similar builds around me have followed my lead.
The usual way of doing it is to remove the entire brick and put put it back in the other way around. Only works if the bricks are faced all-around, some modern bricks like LBC 'Tudor' are only faced one side and one end. This meant that they had to be used frog-down on one side of a window or door reveal.
These were single faced, and far too crumbly to risk taking out.
It's common practice. When the cement eventually lets go it takes off a layer of brick or stone with it. The bigger problem is that the reduced evaporation rate often results in much faster freeze thaw damage. Yes you can do it, but the long & widespread history of resulting history of resulting damage is why Spab advises against doing this on stonework.
My next thought is whether legal expenses cover [on my household contents policy] will cover this at least to the extent of a short consultation. Maybe not one for Christmas week though :-)
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