Have these bricks been ruined by sandblasting?

[BlueSunrise]

Hi all, I’m hoping someone knowledgable can give some advice here please!

I’ve always heard not to sandblast bricks to clean them as it can strip off the fired surface and leaves them very vulnerable to degrading. I was recently looking at a property to maybe purchase in London where the seller had it sandblasted a few years ago and I feel like the bricks have been pretty stripped.

Could someone confirm that’s the case? And if so, should I ditch the house entirely? Seems like there’s nothing much one can to to ‘save’ it except strip the whole house and replace them (if that’s even possible).

The bricks:



The bricks on a neighbouring house for comparison:

 

[stuart45]

Seems to be quite common in London nowadays to clean up the old London stock bricks with abrasive methods. Only time will really tell how long they will last. Having lime mortar joints instead of cement mortar will help keep them longer.

 

[Kearn]

You can sandblast bricks, BUT there are very few who are capable of doing it without damage. Those responsible for this, are not in that group. It’s not the chosen approach to remove modern paint.
Those bricks are weak and exposed now… worse still, they’ve been pointed in what appears to be sand and cement, so the exposed surfaces will fail quicker. They’ll need limewashing or lime rendering for protection. Which isn’t cheap, easy and will totally change the look of the building.

It’s a major issue, but also a red flag for what else has been incorrectly done if the owner thought this was ok practice and employed cowboys who would do this…