To render or restore exposed? Red brick quoins and rubble infill house exterior

[victorian tiny house]

I'm booked in for a lime rendering (scaffold goes up next week), but curiosity got the better of me and, where the existing concrete render was seriously blown, I carefully started removing it to see what we were working with. I'd assumed the house was full red brick, but this is what I've found so far. And I appreciate that it's rubble, but - I can't help thinking it's beautiful.

I've always preferred the look of exposed masonry to render, but I live in a windy, rainy location. I guess what I'm asking for advice on, is whether it would be madness to get the lime mortar repointed and leave the whole lot exposed??

 

[Robola]

I read your 1st paragraph and thought maybe if you are in a sheltered location away from wind driven rain. Then I read your 2nd paragraph

 

[victorian tiny house]

Jolly fun taking it off though, feel like an archaeologist

I know I should take from your comment that it's an awful idea, but hit me with straight- how bad an idea would it be to repoint the shit out of it and leave it open for the world (and rain, and gales - oh and we're directly on a busyish 30mph road) to see..

 

[fernicarry]

We're in a pretty wet and windy location with rubble walls and by and large they cope. They should cope even better once I pick the rest of the cement pointing off the most exposed wall but that's going to be a long haul.

What's the local vernacular? Exposed or rendered? If more are rendered than exposed that tells your something.

How are the internal surfaces finished? Plastered straight onto the inside face or stood off on straps? The latter is how its done here to create a cavity so that any water that does penetrate the full thickness of the wall has somewhere to go. I believe the same approach was used in the SW. That said I'm subverting that in places by filling the cavity with IWI.

Maybe have a chat with your contractor. Getting the existing cement off cleanly enough so that the stone can be left exposed is probably a different job in his eyes to getting enough off to put new render on. The bit you have exposed has cooperated well enough but you may not be so lucky over the whole face. The cement pointing on my walls has been pretty liberally buttered on covering whole stones in places and getting it all off the face can be very time consuming.

You could be looking at some replacement bricks as well. Not my area of expertise.

Your second pictures does look fab. I'd want to give it a go.

 

[victorian tiny house]

Mixed bag on the local lay of the land - my side of the street largely rendered, directly opposite all newer and red brick. The couple dotted along with exposed masonry are either all red brick or full intentional stone.
To think the house looked 100% featureless rendered - to the point I was looking at adding a stringer/cornices etc!

The only internal wall I've pulled out is full red brick with straps.

The render was so blown where I started that it was coming off beautifully (that lot took 2 hours total) but, the door side looks determinedly stuck on... building myself the beautiful false sense of how easy it'll be like only a rookie can