Party Wall And Chimney Breast Mortar Issue With Water Getting in All manner of questions and solutions to problems and issues surrounding the subject of brickwork, blockwork and stonework

[Mart808]

Hi, I've had a couple of problems with water getting into my loft around the chimney and after a couple of goes with a roofer I think the water ingress has stopped but I'm now a bit worried about state of the mortar in the brickwork in this area now.

My house is an ex local authority semi in the west of Scotland built around 1930's / 1950's. (I know I've had conflicting advice around this).

The mortar is really soft and crumbles to the touch, it has mushroomed out of the wall in places as well and looks grey/yellowish in colour. In some places there are gaps between bricks and there seems to be more/deeper gaps in the vertical spaces between bricks.

What action do I need to take?

I could do a bit of repointing myself if fixing the worst parts is sufficient.

If I do that myself what type of mortar mix would be required?

Also are there any other products I could or should be using?

thanks

martin

[Mart808]

Pics look as though they’re the right way up now.

As the mortar is so soft to the touch will it be hard deeper in the bed when I rake it out? I’m half expecting it to be completely soft all the way through and bricks to start falling out when I start raking it out.