Remove plaster from brick facade?

[turmenator]

Hi,

I was wondering if it's possible to remove plaster from a plastered brick house?

Can you sandblast it off or something like that?
Will it look good and like a brick facade or will it look ugly after removal?

The thing is, there are cracks in some places, some settling, and some from rusty reinforcement bars. Repairing and then replastering feels pointless because if you need to repair again, you'd have to replaster at least a whole wall to avoid it looking too bad.

Grateful for advice.

 

[Stefan N]

It is probably quite sloppily built if it was meant for plastering from the start, perhaps mixed different stones and colors to make it as cheap as possible.
Settlements and rusty iron will, unfortunately, be even more apparent once the plaster is removed.

 

[turmenator]

Okay, I don't know when it was plastered.
It is not a thick plaster because you can clearly see the bricks.
I have torn some off, and all the bricks are the same color, red.

But if you remove the plaster and scrape the joints and apply new mortar, it should be fine, right?

If a joint then cracks or is pushed out, you can fix it with new mortar.

If it's plastered, the plaster should be removed first, then the joints, and then new is applied, which always has a different texture and color.

Or am I thinking completely wrong?

 

[Anderrrrrsson]

okay, I don't know when it was plastered.
It's not a thick plaster because you can see the bricks clearly.
I have torn down some and all the bricks are the same color, red.

But if you remove the plaster and scrape the joints and then apply new mortar, that should be alright, right?

If any joint then cracks or gets pressed out, you can repair it with new mortar.

If it's plastered, the plaster should be removed first, then the joint and then new plaster should be applied, which always has a different structure and color.

Or am I thinking completely wrong?

There are a few bigger concerns. As mentioned, it's probably sloppily bricked since it was going to be plastered anyway (unless the plaster was added later, that is), and then it will never look nice. Sure, from a distance, it might look okay, but not when you get close and see all the botches, large joints, and uneven courses.

Another concern is that the stones will be dirty with mortar. It might be possible to wash with hydrochloric acid, but it's not pleasant to work with, and it doesn't get really clean either.

Then when you grout, there's always the risk that they will come loose in frost bursts. If this happens (I don't think it will), it's good if you can repair it as quickly as possible, otherwise, it spreads like food coloring, and more joints will come loose. It's also worth considering that grouting is incredibly boring.

 

[turmenator]

Okay

Then it should probably be polished, and you should repair it as best as you can.

Here is a picture of the crack:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/829/sprickavgg.jpg

 

[Sommartorparn]

That doesn't look like an old plaster facade. Maybe they've chosen to plaster over the brick instead of improving the joints?

How old is the house?

 

[SBH]

nice settlement damage you have in the picture

 

[turmenator]

Hello
The house is from 1937 and I believe the rendering was done significantly later, but I'm not sure.
Yes, I have sent a picture to a "pro" and he wrote that it seems to be a settlement damage and that it was just a matter of cleaning out half the joint depth from old mortar and adding new with hydraulic lime mortar.