# Forum Home Renovation Brickwork  Is it possible to remove brick veneer?

## kaliani

Hi
We are thinking of buying a house that used to be a lovely federation home, but was covered in hideous red brick veneer in the 1970s. If we bought, we would want to restore it to its former glory - taking it back to the original federation brick facade. The shape of the house is the same, although most of the period features are gone. 
Can anyone tell me if its difficult to remove brick veneer fromt he facade of a house? How expensive a job are we talking? (it is veneered on all sides). What trade would we need? 
Thanks!

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## johnc

A picture says a thousand words. Are we dealing with a brick veneer facade or one of the dreadful imitation sheetings that resembled brick. If it is the dreadful variety it comes off easily and should reveal weatherboards (probably in ordinary condition) underneath. If it is a new brick skin then goodness knows what lurks beneath. I would suggest you get a builder or someone else qualified who can look at the house to give you an idea of what you are dealing with. 
Is there a link you can post that includes estate agents photos of the house exterior.

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## kaliani

Thanks for this.
I should have said, it is federation brick underneath. 
Here is a link to the real estate listing with some photos:  http://www.domain.com.au/Property/Fo...did=2009188437

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## centralbeak

I'm one of the newer members (apprentice) but I think that what you have in mind is a big job!  I accept what you say that the house in Haberfield was likely to have been a Federation home and the neighbouring ones in the street would bear this out.  But you would have your work cut out.  I think removing/replacing the outside skin of bricks would be pretty straight forward.  However everything is wrong!  The floor plan has been terribly altered.  It was most likely a 3 bedder and not 4.  That big family room at the rear shouldn't be there.  The attached garage shouldn't be there.  I can't see any fireplaces in the floor plan nor in the photo.  The roof lines don't look right;  the roof tiles are definately wrong;  the aluminium windows of course are wrong.  I suspect that the internal doors may have been removed or modernized;  there is some chance that the original bathroom might have been in the middle of the house and not at the rear;  to replace original windows would probably also mean doing internal brickwork and plasterwork. 
Having just done the rounds of the major outlets for renovation materials I can say that they are not cheap (and my renovation was miniscule compared to what you have in mind).  Buy the house by all means - it IS possible to restore but you will need extremely deep pockets to pay for it and plenty of spare time to source all the missing bits. 
Regards 
Centralbeak

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## centralbeak

Well I'll be!  I thought I was still an "apprentice" but I see that now I am a "novice".  I don't which is the more dangerous - at least in a trade an apprentice has a master tradesman oversighting his work, whilst a novice is more likely to be a loose cannon.

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## PeteV

it is a massive job to remove the external skin and replace with federation style bricks... like centralbeak suggested, make sure your pockets are very very deep!!! you might want to consider render instead. hope this helps!

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## kaliani

Thanks for this.  When you say 'deep pockets' - do you mean $50,000, $200,000..... I guess this would be built into any purchase decisions. 
Another question: are these brick veneer bricks simply covering over the old federation bricks - or would the outer lay of old federation bricks have been removed before the veneer? 
Goodness knows why people destoyed lovely old homes in this way.

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## PeteV

I can only assume from what the real estate ad suggests that the original bricks have been pulled down. the advert suggests that the house is double brick, which was the standard during the federation period. it looks to me as though the house has undergone a "modernisation" around the late 60's to early 70's.  
as far as the deep pockets thing goes... it's hard to tell because i only have one elevation to go off, but i wouldn't expect much change from $40k. a local builder would be able to give a much more accurate estimate.

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## johnc

The roof pitch looks wrong as well, it does look like a 60's or 70's house and as a restorer proposition I would not touch it with a 10' pole, for the reasons given above. It would probably be cheaper and better in the end to knock it over a start again. With restorations you would hope to have some period features particularly the exterior remaining. All you could hope with this one is that it didn't end up looking like a 70's house with a bit of federation tat tacked on.

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## jiggy

I honestly cannot see where the Federation bit is or was . The roof is wrong ,the tiles are wrong ,and the windows are wrong. Inside may have a few details but the outside certainly does'nt.

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## kaliani

Thanks for your feedback everyone. 
Just an update. We had a better look today and it turns out its not brick veneer. They have actually removed the entire outer layer of double brick and replaced with the ugly 1960s red brick. I am guessing that is a major undertaking to rectify. 
The house is more of a re-build than restoration. Not much, other than floor boards, left of original features. 
Blue ribbon street - best in Haberfield. Appalling house but selling at land value. Not sure if we have the funds or energy to take it on though.

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## gpkennedy

I cannot see any Federation at all from these pics.
A simple Google produces a few pics of Federation houses. Federation starts after Federation of Australian colonies in 1901 and the style continued until about 1930. Early Constructions 1900-1930 - Build Report.com.au David Hall Building Appraisals Pty. Ltd.

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## kaliani

Thanks for this. The house was originally a federation (as are all the Haberfield homes). But the previous owner changed the roof line, put in aluminium windows, pulled off the outer layers of brick and replaced with 1960s brick. Internally, the front half of the house (bedrooms) are all that are lefto of the federation house (although decorative ceilings are gone). So 'restoration' is stretching things as it has more or less been rebuilt - although using original bones. That said - this one is going for $4 or $500,000 less than an unrenovated federation house that sold down the road earlier in the year.  
We would basically be looking at rebuilding to a new version of the original old house. The two big expenses it looks to me are to rebrick the entire outside (I'm guessing this would cost 50 to 100k? and to change the pitch and retile the roof - another $50k). And replace aluminium windows with timber. Internal layout is fine - although needs new kitchen, bathroom and replastering rear living area. I'm guessing $250k to fix it up. Not sure if we can be bothered though! We'll go back next week and have a look again.

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## woodhunt

That's absolutely incredible- the only one that tops that is the federation in marrickville someone decided to render in pebblecrete.

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