I may have damaged my brickwork - what do I do now?

[Nav]

I have been trying to clean/remove ivy tendrils off exterior red clay bricks off my Victorian house (1890s) , the only thing that has worked is using a wire brush. I’ve since realised that this could potentially damage the bricks in the long term -eek! A fine layer of dust came off when using the brush. is there anything that I should do now to prevent any damage in the long term such as spalling etc, or is the risk of long term damage low? Is spalling now inevitable and is there any benefit of using a silicate sealant ?

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[stuart45]

Have you got a few photos of the damage?. Are they hard or soft bricks, and are the joints lime mortar or cement mortar?

 

[Nav]

The lighter patchy area is what has been done so far, the white speckles on the bricks are the remnants of the old ivy tendrils which is what I was able to remove with the wire brush , do the clean bricks need sealing and should I continue using the wire brush to complete the wall ?

 

[Nav]

The ‘mortar in the large wall is lime (was a 1920s extension), the rest of the property was unfortunately repointed by previous owner with cement

 

[Kearn]

Time is your friend when it comes to ivy…. Cut the root, then just let it wither away. It’s not fast, but the tendrils eventually dry out and can be rubbed off with little effort or damage.

Bricks should’t be sealed - far more damaging than not, if it’s a solid wall built and pointed in lime, the pointing should still be the sacrificial material to allow water out and prevent spalling. If it’s a modern hard brick wall, then the surface of the brick is less important, as the whole brick is solid and hard, unlike old soft clays which relied on the harder fireskin.

 

[LadyArowana]

Cut the root, then just let it wither away. It’s not fast, but the tendrils eventually dry out and can be rubbed off with little effort or damage.

Not fast is an understatement, ours was about 2 years before it was in a state for the tree man to start removing it and even then it left a few shadows of the aerial roots.

 

[Nav]

Thanks ; it has been 5years since the Ivey was removed - tried pressure washing and gentle brushing and wouldn’t budge - so wire brush is the only thing to work - the bricks are old clay bricks and not sure if the protective layer has now been stripped - was wondering if I need to used a so called ‘breathable ‘ sealer (I know it’s an oxymoron; such as silicate brick sealants

 

[larry]

Silicate base stuff doesn't "seal" and should be vapour permeable, but if those were my bricks I'd not be worrying, just be gentle with removing the last bits.

I have used a silicate based red brick dye but my bricks were/are in a far (far) worse condition.

 

[stuart45]

Silane-Siloxane are the ones said to be the most breathable. I think I'd just leave the brickwork as it is if it was mine. The ivy doesn't look that bad.
A wire brush is too hard for those bricks. They also leave small bits in the wall which go rusty.