Was asked by my sister to do some repoint work, started the job but noticed the bottom three bricks from where they had damp proofed a year or so ago are so brittle and the old mortar is just like sand coming out of the joints it’s a 1940 bungalow so quite old any comments on best way to fix this problem or would professionals need to come in cheers

I'm guessing it's lime mortar if you can pull it out that easily?

It's hard to see, but was that area that's been tanked with bitumen or similar previously cement washed?  It looks as is some of the lower bricks had already suffered a bit before anything was slapped on there, perhaps frost damage?

 

Adding a cement wash/render and that coat of bitumen has made things worse, I'm sure.  Damp may well have been trapped in that area, behind the bitumen, and then accelerated the damage to the bricks.

 

It does also look like lime mortar that's failed, and that can happen when it is sealed behind an airtight layer and kept damp.

 

It's certainly possible to rake out around the damaged bricks, one by one, and replace them, but before doing that it would help to know the type of mortar used.  Replacing lime mortar with cement based mortar rarely works well.

 

Is this a solid of cavity wall?  Cavity walls started to be used from around the 1930's, but solid walls were still being built in post war houses, so it could be either.  The repair approach will be different between the two, and a cavity wall repair, assuming some bricks need to be replaced, will be a fair bit easier, I think.

 

Thanks for the reply I spoke to my sisters partner and showed him the situation he wasn’t too sure about if it had be done befor as they haven’t been there that long in the end he just wanted it to be touched up and try make it look like bricks? even tho I said it looked pretty bad and render might not be the answer, done what could be done but can’t see it lasting and I’m no expert ?? How long do you give it a month? ?