Bricks Crumbling in Loft

[staylong]

Hi

I have decided to board my loft to make some storage space.

I went up for the first time today and noticed that the gable end wall is in a bad way. What I see is a number of bricks (eight) that have blown and at least four have just crumbled into dust..

It may be that this was as a result of prior problems and that is why the gable end was fixed and the whole house pebbledashed but it has scared the heck out of me.

The place seems dry and no sign of any other problems. Its been well insulated (last five years) and there are no funny smells that could indicate rotting or anything.

Any ideas what I can do? Something I can coat the bricks with? Help.

 

[jbonding]

its not a problem most gable walls in lofts are usually like this ive not seen many pretty looking walls in lofts especially old buildings. Clean out the damaged bricks and replace each missing or crumbled brick with a new one.

 

[staylong]

Thanks JB.

I was getting worried.

The whole place looks a bit of a nightmare actually. Previous owner had put new thick fibreglass insulation on top of everything so when I pulled it back to get to the joists it was full of the old stuff, bits of rubble and about an inch of dust everywhere. don't know wether to board over the top of everything after laying down some 3" by 1" strips across the joists as sugested in another post, or clean the place out completely with brush pan and small vacume. Then when clean relay the new stuff between the rafters and board.

Tackle the wall after its boarded.

Whilst Im on this would it be a reasonable idea to staple a few of the large plastic sheets to the roof rafters to form a sort of tent around the area used to store? I will no doubt board it later when I have some dosh but as a temp measure to keep dust off everything what do you think?

Cheers

 

[masona]

Whilst Im on this would it be a reasonable idea to staple a few of the large plastic sheets to the roof rafters to form a sort of tent around the area used to store?

I wouldn't use plastic sheet as it will create condensation running to the bottom of the sheets. The best one are the breatheable mesh type or you could use 8' x 4' peg board sheet which I have in my loft with staples fixing. Not sure if they are available in less than 8' x4' sheet size but easily cut down to size.