How would you restore or redesign this weathered brick wall while keep

last month

Hi everyone,
I’m renovating an old house from the 197

0s, and this exterior brick wall is becoming a real challenge. As you can see in the photo, the bricks are heavily weathered and eroded, and some areas are starting to crumble. The mortar joints are also deteriorated.

I’d really like to keep the original character and the “aged” look of the wall — I love that you can see the passage of time — but I also need to fix the structural issues so nothing becomes loose or unsafe.

I’m unsure about the best approach:

Is it better to restore it (repointing, replacing only the most damaged bricks, stabilizing the loose ones)?
Would cleaning and sealing help, or would that make the irregularities stand out too much?
Should I rebuild certain sections, or partially cover it with something (wood slats, lime-based render, corten steel, climbing plants)?
Any ideas on how to keep the rustic, time-worn aesthetic while making it safe and durable?

I’m open to both structural and aesthetic solutions.
Thanks in advance — all suggestions welcome!

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Comments (5)

PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
last month
You can't seal brick because it has to breath. If you seal it the moisture will be trapped and the bricks will crumble more quickly.

You can keep the existing walls with tuckpointing but the success is completely dependent on the skill of the tuckpointer.

If the wall is brick veneer, I believe you could take the brick down and replace it with something new like ROMAN BRICK

https://www.beldenbrick.com/brick/roman
dani_m08
last month
A house that was built in the 1970s shouldn't be having so much spalling/weathering. Before trying to "fix" anything, you need to determine why it's happening and address that issue. Water intrusion is most likely.

There are ways to keep spalled bricks as long as under the face of the brick is still solid. If it's not, those bricks will need to be replaced. You will also need to repoint the wall + seal it once you're finished.
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Sigrid
last month
It needs to have the failing bricks and mortar replaced. It looks like it's at the point where you could have the entire wall collapse. Cleaning and sealing it isn't going to help at this point. Get quotes from a few masons and talk to them about the walls and what it needs.

It's not clear to me that water intrusion is an issue. Some brick is higher quality than other brick.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last month
last modified: last month
Is this in Italy? If so I'd get a local opinion from a good mason experienced with these Roman style bricks. They appear deeply eroded, in the way soft brick, especially near the sea, can be gouged out by wind and grit. Do not seal it.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last month
last modified: last month
We need to know where this is ? The brick could easily have no proper water drainage and that is a totall rip out and redo the fact that it looks like a retaining wall says not done right . I guess we need to know was the wall built in the 70s or just the house . Too little info. We had to build a large retaining wall in our last house and the work involved to handle the water was huge and was done perfectly since in 18 years not one water issue in that wall you definately do not want to seal it.