House sprayed with waterproof coating -good idea?

[ArseholierThanThou]

Getting the house fully repointed is way beyond budget. I had someone round to look at the weekend and they said they could patch point and spray with a waterproof coating that is guaranteed for 15 years.
It sounded like a good idea, and the most affordable option, but it was sprayed around 8 years ago.
This guy says the stuff he gets is new and is £300 a barrel, but I don’t know if I’m just being taken for easy money, or if he is genuinely offering the best solution.
I’m one of these naively honest people who assumes everyone is as honest as me, but I know not everyone actually is. I’ve been bitten before!
Its so hard being a single woman dealing with building stuff when you are clueless.
Any advice?

Don’t houses need to breathe to some degree? I have no idea really, but hopefully someone who does will be along soon.

Do you live in a very wet or humid climate ? If not, they would you do this

Is your house old
Older houses need to breathe and waterproof spray on the outside would be inappropriate and damaging
If it’s applied incorrectly it’s an expensive nightmare to remove

Id stick to repairing the pointing. It sounds like that’s what’s needed and spraying waterproof stuff on brickwork isn’t a patch on just getting the pointing repaired

The guy you got sounds like he isn’t that bothered doing as you ask and would much rather do what he wants.

I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. A 15 year guarantee means nothing unless it’s underwritten by a national scheme - the company goes bust, your guarantee is worthless.
And as pp says, houses need to breathe. Look at the current scandal unfolding around external wall ‘insulation’ and the problems caused with mould & damp; and the people having to pay ££££ to have the spray on internal loft ‘insulation’ removed because it’s rotting the roof timbers. It’s the same principle.
If the pointing is letting damp in in some places, get those areas repointed.

Shocking that louds of councils put that crap on their council houses

No houses need to breathe. I don't understand why they're rendered either.

ive never heard of waterproof spray so i’d be wary. a lot of things that are insufficiently tried and tested turn out to cause damage.

just get some other quotes to repoint.

you could even do the lower area yourself, to save money. how hard can it be to scrape out shonky mortar and replace wirh fresh stuff? higher up may be a bit more difficult though.

Research what they are using. Bricks can and are sealed, just check it is what you need and appropriate. Good products are available and not difficult to DIY it.https://www.permagard.co.uk/advice/brick-sealer-mythbusting

Absolutely not. Walk away, infact run.

Point where necessary, find a proper tradesperson that gets it and will patch point where needed. You don't need to over do it, it will look awful

100% no. Just no!

pointing is supposed to be sacrificial. It’s supposed to freeze/thaw away over time and save the stone/brick. Then at some point people started pointing in cement. Pointing was then rock solid. Bricks and stone started disintegrating instead as freeze thaw moisture movement forced through them instead.

This chap will spray the house with chemicals preventing moisture movement, but water always wins, so the faces of your bricks will probably blow off over time. And the chemicals cant ever be removed/reversed. There’s no magic. Save up and get it (lime) pointed.

.’ The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) generally advises
against the use of conventional, non-breathable sealers on historic, solid-wall brickwork. SPAB's approach prioritizes allowing moisture to evaporate from the building fabric rather than trapping it inside, which can cause significant decay, such as spalling bricks and crumbling mortar. ‘

Advice from the experts

Sounds like a recipe for mould inside the house I’m afraid

Previous owners did it on our stone house. It isn't any kind of substitute for pointing, because it doesn't fix any gaps or cracks in the pointing and water will still get in when it rains. It stops the house from breathing and makes it more damp inside. We sandblasted to get rid of it £££ and still needed repainting. Cheaper to save up for the repointing (ours is end terrace with a huge gable end....)

Still needed REPOINTING should have previewed!

As I feared.
He did the neighbours pointing a decade ago, has been in business years and so I thought, with having a good rep and good online reviews, he was coming up with the best solution for me. He said his stuff was breathable, but not sure how that works if it’s waterproof.
I realise now he’s probably going for the least work/max profit for him.

Back to the drawing board!
thanks all.

You say you are naively honest - you can stop that today if you wish to (and in fact you have, by questioning).

Make a rule that no one does work to your house unless you fully understand the process, the risks, the pros and the cons.

Ask him for the product name and start researching.

But if this product was that cheap and solved problems, it would be done by everyone.

Assuming it needs repainting due to bits of mortar coming loose and damp ingress then spraying it with waterproofing will do nothing to help at all. This man is just trying to earn some money from you. How bad is the pointing? You can do spot repairs yourself.

The moisture that can’t travel out travels inwards instead. You can expect to a lot of damp!

Don’t revel in being naive - do some basic research about this and anything else, unless being a victim is your thing?!

We have waterproofed our single skin brick garage with storm dry stuff which English heritage use- it cost us £500 roughly to paint on and is breathable and waterproof.

We did it after an old university friend advised us to, and we purchased the stuff he recommended -his post grad degree is in mortar. So we trusted his judgement, added to the fact he had used it on his house and garage. It is marvellous, dried completely clear. The garage used to get damp and water come through but now it is totally and utterly dry. You can see when it rains it doesn’t penetrate the brick work.

Our neighbours have exactly the same garages and after really heavy rain they get water in - not much but some. We got nothing.

However I would say it is easy to do yourself and £500 sounds too cheap, for a house, it cost us £500 to do an entire garage but we painted it ourselves and it lasts 20 years. It’s easy enough to paint it yourselves and get someone to repoint the brick.

For us it dried clear but you will be able to see where you have done it - if you don’t do the whole lot - or you can just do the bit you want. Our brick was identical so when we started - we did one wall and then you could tell which one we did. And then we did the others and you can’t see the difference now. I’m happy to send you a picture of our garage and the neighbours by DM if you want to see the difference.

Render can be absolutely awful and make the house totally damp etc never mind algae growth and cracking.

@Princessoflitchenstein
good to know breathable waterproofing is actually a possibility then. Thank you.

Im trying to find some other companies to come and look and give me their opinion/quote. I’m struggling to find any others that cover my area though, but I definitely won’t just rush to the first guy spraying it.

Unfortunately I can’t spot repair myself (far too high), and my skills in DIY aren’t great tbh.