Cement cladding over flint wall - 1850’s house

[SteepLearningCurve]

Hi everyone.

Wondered if anyone could give guidance on what’s likely to be going on with the front of my house?

Short version: moved in 18 months ago, flint/brick cottage built c.1850’s. Full structural survey before moving in didn’t mention any issues with frontage.

Noticed some damp on the interior walls at the front, in patches maybe 1.5m off the ground. Started to take a careful look at the front thinking that may need to sort some lime render depending on what’s currently there.

The front seems to have some sort of thinnish cement-like cladding that’s been painted - pictures attached. If you look carefully at the front you can see the outline of the blocks. What is this and what implications does it have for wall breatheability? Presumably it stops t completely...

The sides and back are the original flint walls (some of which have injected DPC, but that’s another post...!). Solid walls about 12” thick, built straight onto the ground. Side of house has a French drain, but not at the front. There’s cement up to the frontage but seems to be some sort of membrane between the path and the bottom of the house with a small gap.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[bobasd]

you might be best off by removing back to brick, block or flint all the render and that thin skim coat of whatever.
also remove all paint.
you could then see exactly what youve got.
all exterior surfaces paint should have been masonry paint - looks like you might have oil paint applied.
there seems to be a sand and cement fillet at the bottom junction of the front wall and the path - remove it. its only trapping water and growing plants.

is the front elevation blockwork the only wall at the front - or is there a flint wall at the back of it?

 

[SteepLearningCurve]

Thanks. Yes I’d like to chip a bit away and see what’s behind it, but worried about opening a can of worms/making a massive mess.

There’s a flint wall behind whatever those blocks are, when we removed the skirting upstairs it went back to the original wall and it’s flint/timber.

Having thought about it over the weekend I wonder whether the ‘blocks’ are actually just where the thick layer of cement/concrete stuff has been scored, it can’t be more than 15/20mm thick...

 

[Notch7]

I wonder if the wall was rendered to try and stop damp issues......

 

[bobasd]

yeah, it looked like Ashlar lines in render (Ashlar is used to fake a stone pattern) but you said it was blocks!

the first pic shows a very thick render with a high grit content - that thickness of render probably returns around the corner over the front elevation.
If a sand and cement mix of render has been used then thats a problem in itself - 3:1 sand and lime is the best traditional render mix.

if you dont want to open a possible can of worms then you could do as i suggested above, and remove all paint and that shelling and flaking skim material but leave the underlying render in place - and then see what happens next?
are the inside walls rendered or gypsum plastered?

your dealing with a very old building of unknown structure so it pays to go slow with repairs.