My Dad's replacing his old rotted wooden decking with composite. The photos show where he's removed the old decking and the old gravel that he's going to build on. He's currently got it bagged up and he's going to rinse it off before reusing it. I haven't got a photo yet, but apparently it's uneven concrete underneath, which is how it was when we moved in many years ago.
The old decking was about half way up the brick steps, and below the two air bricks that I've indicated. I thought it would be a good idea to demolish those steps and build all the new decking up to the height of where the steps used to be, to reduce the risk of people tripping coming out of the doors, and then have a step down to the grass instead, as it will be safer if they trip onto that, but my Dad didn't like that idea and his plan is to build the new decking to the same level as the old stuff, and then cover over the steps with the decking to make them look nicer and blend in.
The DPC is above the step by the patio door (the utility room on the right is a concrete addition to the house, so I'm not sure if that has, or needs, a DPC), and my concern is that putting decking over the step will mean that water and debris will collect on the brick step underneath and won't be able to evaporate or blow away like it can now, and that could risk water getting into the wall above the DPC. I suggested to my Dad that it would be better to demolish the brick steps (or at least the patio door one, which he's already removed half of, as it used to extend much further to the left as there was originally french doors there) and then build a new step with the decking in it's place, so it's the same height as the current brick step and any water or debris will be able to fall straight down to the ground below, so there's no risk of it pooling by/above the DPC, and he's considering that. Do you think that's a good idea?
I thought the black stuff along the bottom of the wall might be bitumen put there to help waterproof the lower bricks, but my Dad reckons its just black paint that the bloke who did the rendering painted on, and he says its peeling which he reckons proves its just paint and he's planning to just paint over it. The house is 1930s single-brick, no cavity, and I know that these houses need to breathe and the render isn't ideal, but would it be a good idea nonetheless to strip off that black paint and paint those bricks with a breathable exterior paint, or is that going to be a pointless waste of money when the rest of the wall is covered in non-breathable render?
The old decking was about half way up the brick steps, and below the two air bricks that I've indicated. I thought it would be a good idea to demolish those steps and build all the new decking up to the height of where the steps used to be, to reduce the risk of people tripping coming out of the doors, and then have a step down to the grass instead, as it will be safer if they trip onto that, but my Dad didn't like that idea and his plan is to build the new decking to the same level as the old stuff, and then cover over the steps with the decking to make them look nicer and blend in.
The DPC is above the step by the patio door (the utility room on the right is a concrete addition to the house, so I'm not sure if that has, or needs, a DPC), and my concern is that putting decking over the step will mean that water and debris will collect on the brick step underneath and won't be able to evaporate or blow away like it can now, and that could risk water getting into the wall above the DPC. I suggested to my Dad that it would be better to demolish the brick steps (or at least the patio door one, which he's already removed half of, as it used to extend much further to the left as there was originally french doors there) and then build a new step with the decking in it's place, so it's the same height as the current brick step and any water or debris will be able to fall straight down to the ground below, so there's no risk of it pooling by/above the DPC, and he's considering that. Do you think that's a good idea?
I thought the black stuff along the bottom of the wall might be bitumen put there to help waterproof the lower bricks, but my Dad reckons its just black paint that the bloke who did the rendering painted on, and he says its peeling which he reckons proves its just paint and he's planning to just paint over it. The house is 1930s single-brick, no cavity, and I know that these houses need to breathe and the render isn't ideal, but would it be a good idea nonetheless to strip off that black paint and paint those bricks with a breathable exterior paint, or is that going to be a pointless waste of money when the rest of the wall is covered in non-breathable render?
