House plinth

[Babaganush]

Hi all,

Our plinth looks like this (see pictures).

What is it made of? What can we do to improve it? We were thinking of removing the old paint, clean it (don’t know how), repoint it with lime and lime wash it.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

 

[JohnD]

It is painted black, and was probably applied to hide (it does not cure) wet brickwork.

Start by scraping away the gravel to see how wet the ground is. It might be wet near pipes and drains.

Look at the wall and find the original DPC. What is its height, relative to current ground or paving level?

 

[Babaganush]

Thanks JohnD

I should have added that it’s not causing damp issues. My question is: what material is under the paint? Is it bath stone? Would scraping, repointing and painting it again be a good idea?

 

[JohnD]

I can't see from your photos what your house is built of, or where the DPC is.

Plinths are very much associated with damp, hence my interest. Most often they are made of hard cement mortar. They are better left unpainted so damp can evaporate off the surface.

The plinth must not bridge the DPC so you need to find where it is.

You may get some clues from nearby similar houses.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Plinths like this are commonplace down this neck of the woods, often painted black here too they seldom seem to give problems. Provided the render or mortar is good it will be fine, it does look like in places the plinth is delaminating so it needs some further investigating as to whether it can be repaired or needs hacking off and reapplying. A few taps of a hammer (or just a knuckle usually) can often tell if it's loose or solid.

 

[Babaganush]

Plinths like this are commonplace down this neck of the woods, often painted black here too they seldom seem to give problems. Provided the render or mortar is good it will be fine, it does look like in places the plinth is delaminating so it needs some further investigating as to whether it can be repaired or needs hacking off and reapplying. A few taps of a hammer (or just a knuckle usually) can often tell if it's loose or solid.

Thank you! Do you think it is made of cement? How would I go about repairing it?