# Forum Home Renovation Brickwork  Removing cement render from exterior of federation brick - best approach?

## kaliani

We have a lovely federation house (in a heritage conservation area) that the previous owners have unsympathetically cement rendered all over. We are determined to strip this render off. I know some people in the area have re-bricked the outer skin, but I thought we should have a go at stripping it off before we go to those extremes.  I have had a go at a small section with a regular hammer and chisel to see if it comes off. Its strong concrete render but does come off with some effort. The problem is that it leaves a thin film of concrete on the brick so we need to also find some way to remove that.  
I've had lots of advice from various tradies on how to approach the render removal - with no real consensus. Suggestions have included: 
1. Use a hammer drill (with wide chisel fitting) to chip it carefully off. 
2. Re-brick entire house outer skin
3. Sodablast the render off.  
On point 3 - I rang someone who does soda-blasting and he said he can't blast render off. He can, he said, soda-blast the remnant film of concrete once we've stripped the render off using hammer dril (point 1). He claims that soda-blasting doesn't damage the substrate material so the bricks won't be damaged.  
One builder I spoke to said the main danger in this is we strip off the facing of the brick in the process.  Is there anyway to avoid this?  Is there a way to repair the brick facing afterwards?
We will tuck-point the front facade - but simply couldn't afford to do sides and back too.  
Would very much appreciate advice and suggestions.  
Many thanks.

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## Random Username

I can remember seeing properties in Sydney having render sandblasted off, but that was about 25-30 years ago, and yes, it did strip the face of the bricks off. 
I'd be tempted to try chipping some off, and seeing if any remaining cement could be removed with hydrochloric acid (brick cleaning acid).

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## joynz

Since this is a heritage property, I suggest you chat to a heritage conservationist.  Your Council might be able to point you in the right direction, otherwise maybe a call to the National Trust or similar  for contacts in your area. 
Older mortar and bricks may not behave the way you expect with hydrochloric acid (brick cleaners regularly damage modern brickwork  using this method, so I'd be taking expert specialist advice first).

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## justonething

Before our old neighbour rendered his house, the walls had large cracks and mortars were missing and the courses of brick went up and down along the wall. He had the wall rendered, after underpinning the foundation, to probably hide the defects. If you are determined to take the rendering off, be prepared to expect the unexpected is all I'm going to say.

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## Marc

I say leave it as it is, you will be making a rod for your own back. Not only you face the cost of stripping the render but if successful ... if ... you will most probably also need to fix the defects the previous owner tried to mask. And you don't know what they are.
What is the cost of re-bricking the front only?

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## Craigoss

My place is a 1920's red bricker, which was rendered long ago. Possibly after the newcastle earthquake to cover up the cracks. Old red brick heritage houses are beautiful, but owners typically render over them to cover up cracks. When you take the render off, you might find a lot of things which need restoring i.e. they might have rebricked a section in modern common bricks which do not match. Or your footings may need underpinning and all the brickwork repointing. 
I have also removed a lot of render on the inside of my house and the exterior. The internal render was a soft lime based render with white set. It came of the brick quite cleanly, and a wire brush cleaned up them up very nicely. However the outside of the house was a sand/cement mix, it was rock hard and stuck to the face of the brick. Removing the render pulled off the face of the brick. A lot of bricks had to be replaced as they smashed to pieces or became loose. 
I would suggest you try to remove a small piece of render somewhere to see how soft it is. However if it's a sand/cement, forget about it.

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## kaliani

Thanks for all the feedback. 
I am quite sure the brick is fine underneath (ie the render wasn't put on to cover up problems). The rendering was done in the early 1980s by the Italian family that we bought the house from. We spoke to them and they said they liked the 'modern look' of the render. Many Italians in the area did this at the time.  
The render unfortunately is cement/sand render and very hard. It doesn't sound like it will be a simple or even possible job to do. We definitely want to remove it - it will increase the value of the house substantially as its the only non-original house in the street - with some amazing restored federation homes on it (Haberfield).  We bought it last year for $200,000 less than the neighbouring house 2 doors up that was unrendered - but otherwise substantially the same.  
Mainly we want to remove it as its a beautiful federation house and the render job has destroyed its facade. We bought into the area because we love the heritage character of the homes here. The idea was always to restore it back.  
The heritage bricklayer we spoke with said to re-brick the front will cost about $12,000.   It is a corner house so the side wall on one side is exposed the street - for this reason it might look a bit ugly to only do the front and leave this side. 
Great suggestion Joynz to speak to a heritage consultant. The local council has a heritage adviser they use. I'll try that path.  
Thanks kindly

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## Marc

Is that the house on Dalhousie towards Parramatta road that belonged to Rocco?

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