Repair large hole in brick wall

JJDoherty

Hi there,

I would like to hear some opinions from others on repairing a hole I have in a wall in my home and the approach I am thinking of taking.

The house came with a cable run for a TV buried in the living room wall. These cables have been taken out leaving behind a large hole. The wall seems to be of a brick construction, mainly rendered with a skim of plaster but in the location of the hole there also seems to be plasterboard. Around the hole some of the plaster has cracked and some of the plasterboard is broken and coming loose.

What I hope to do is to remove all the loose material and fill the large hole with cement render and finish it off with a plaster skim finish.

I have also attached photos of what I am dealing with.

IMG_20121008_221638.jpg
IMG_20121008_221815.jpg
IMG_20121008_221837.jpg
IMG_20121008_221859.jpg
IMG_20121008_221927.jpg

Any ideas, suggestions or alternatives would be very welcome.

chris445

I would use a bit of bonding instead of a sand/cement mix.

Clean the edges of the hole. Dust it all out and splash with a little water before applying the bonding so it doesnt dry too fast into the brickwork and crack. once it hardens it can be plastered over with a bit of skimcoat.

JJDoherty

Thanks for the reply Chris445.

I was thinking of getting a small bag (2kg approx.) of ready to use/just add water mortar mix. Just a couple of things, is there a reason you would suggest using bonding instead of a sand/cement mix? Is there a bonding product that you would recommend, keeping in mind the quantity I would need to complete the job?

Thanks again

harry21

JJDoherty wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Chris445.

I was thinking of getting a small bag (2kg approx.) of ready to use/just add water mortar mix. Just a couple of things, is there a reason you would suggest using bonding instead of a sand/cement mix? Is there a bonding product that you would recommend, keeping in mind the quantity I would need to complete the job?

Thanks again

You can buy small bags of bonding that will suit you. Bonding will adhere to the surfaces better than sand/cement, and it can be applied in thicker coats. I would use bonding if I were you.

JJDoherty

Thanks Harry21.

Ah right, good to know bonding can be applied in thicker layers, since the hole I have is quite deep. I presume that bonding won't shrink as it dries either, is that correct?

So should I be able to cleanly cut away any loose plasterboard and plaster, only use the bonding to fill out the larger hole and gaps left by the plasterboard and plaster and then apply a skim coat of plaster? Is there a particular bonding I should be looking for or can I simply go in to a hardware store/building merchants and explain what I am doing to get what I need?

Should I consider anything else, like lime mortar used in the existing brick wall? I don't think this is the case though.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

harry21

Just ask for a small bag of bonding. As chris445 mentioned, make sure you dampen the wall first before applying the bonding. I would fill the fole in the pic in one go if I were you. Leave to dry for 2-3 days and then a light skim.

Use a stanley and see if you can remove the skim coat about 40mm back from the edges before skimming to give a clean edge to skim to.

Villaines

Begs the question - why was the cable removed?

JJDoherty

Villaines wrote: »

Begs the question - why was the cable removed?

The cables were removed because the wall mounted 42" plasma TV, which the cables were used for, has been taken down and replace with a smaller TV that came with a stand.

gomamochi1

Just do as you plan, render with mortar and skim after its dried. Should be grand.

chris445

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Just do as you plan, render with mortar and skim after its dried. Should be grand.

Love this motto... ha

jaspertheghost

either or would be fine, just remove any lose skim or bits of stone, when your applying your bonding/mortar leave it back a few mill from the finished plaster so that when you apply the skim it will be flush, also if you are using mortar becareful not to mix it to strong, this will crack the skim. also if your using mortar put a few scratches in it with a nail, this will help the skim hold on to it

JJDoherty

jaspertheghost wrote: »

...remove any lose skim or bits of stone, when your applying your bonding/mortar ...if you are using mortar be careful not to mix it to strong, this will crack the skim...[sic]

As the hole is rather deep and the wall is primarily made up of yellow brick (higher lime content?) I am leaning to filling the hole with a mortar mix.

With that in mind, any ideas what strength of mortar I should used? I've looked and think that a type K mortar would be appropriate, which is a 1:3:10 cement, lime, sand mix. Would somewhere like Chadwicks sell smaller amounts of cement & lime?

Or again, would bonding be safe enough to use despite it being an old, 100+ years, internal brickwork party wall?

Any opinions on the above?

jaspertheghost

you can buy a bag of sand and cement mix in woodies, just measure it out 4 sand to 1 cement when your mixing, no need for lime. bonding would be fine aswell just pack it well into the hole.