A word of advice (from experience) - if you’re looking to buy a house in the Burnley/East Lancashire area it would be advisable to avoid those built with bricks made by ‘The London Brick Company’ aka ‘London brick’.
They are very porous and after repeated torrential rain they become saturated and then water runs down the INSIDE of the brick into the cavity of the wall which may ultimately result in significant structural damage.

Is anyone else having this problem after the last few weeks of torrential rain?

My 30s house in Nelson is built with Accy Bricks no problem with water damage

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:40 am

My 30s house in Nelson is built with Accy Bricks no problem with water damage

NORI (IRON). Ours is built with the rustic Accy, not the vitreous type. Both good

Mala, a lot of bricks will absorb water and eventually will get into the cavity especially after long periods of driving rain. Proper builders and building inspectors will ensure cavity trays and adequate weep holes are in place to gradually release the water above openings such as windows and the damp course. Vents should never be blocked as well. Cavity insulation poorly installed or installed when it shouldn't be exsasperate the issue. I've seen numerous properties where weep holes are pointed over or conservatory roofs built above them and the space created then becomes damp.
Try checking weep holes, apply a top quality silicone coating (breathable) or you can install remedial cavity trays but it is quite specialist and requires a quality builder.

I've used this water repellent a few times, not the cheapest but good tackle. Made by Wykamol, just paint it on.

Nori bricks are what they say they are,if you have ever tried to chisel a hole in a Nori brick wall you will know what Nori means

Vincent'sCap wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 12:44 pm

Nori bricks are what they say they are,if you have ever tried to chisel a hole in a Nori brick wall you will know what Nori means

......and used in the foundations of the Empire State Building.

Aclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 12:49 pm

......and used in the foundations of the Empire State Building.

King Kong proof

Woodleyclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:40 am

My 30s house in Nelson is built with Accy Bricks no problem with water damage

My garage and outhouses are built from Nori Bricks ,built to last but what b - - -ds to drill.

Vincent'sCap wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 12:44 pm

Nori bricks are what they say they are,if you have ever tried to chisel a hole in a Nori brick wall you will know what Nori means

Didn’t the name originate from them being called IRON bricks and the mould being made arse about.

Mala591 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:26 am

A word of advice (from experience) - if you’re looking to buy a house in the Burnley/East Lancashire area it would be advisable to avoid those built with bricks made by ‘The London Brick Company’ aka ‘London brick’.
They are very porous and after repeated torrential rain they become saturated and then water runs down the INSIDE of the brick into the cavity of the wall which may ultimately result in significant structural damage.

Is anyone else having this problem after the last few weeks of torrential rain?

Most likely to need re-pointing.

The mention of The London Brick Company reminded me that within walking distance on my house there are plans to build a new Universal Studios Resort on the site of the old Stewartby works which was the HQ for TLBC - whether it will come to fruition is another thing, but could be good for the area if it does happen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... s-67761926

Although we never had water penetrating the brickwork the bricks were terrible, flaking and pointing falling out possibly the worst brick ever made. We decided to have a 'K' rend it's worked the shoddy bricks are sealed and the house looks good the contractor said he expected others would follow suit and they have. After about 2 years we noticed small dots of mould occurring in various places I knew the ventilation was poor and it appears that the brick breathed so I bought a small 'Netta' de-humidifier we run it approx 2 hours a day for less than 5p an hour and it's done the trick.

basil6345789 wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:56 am

NORI (IRON). Ours is built with the rustic Accy, not the vitreous type. Both good

I honestly thought you lived in Northern Ireland.

I've got a west facing rendered brick wall which used to give me all sorts of problems.

a builder advised me to brush coat it with Thompson's Water Seal ('the only stuff that works', in his words) and I've not had an issue in 10 years.

I work for Forterra, the brick works at Accrington (Huncoat).
We have several sites around the country and London brick are one of our products. They're made at Kings Dyke works in Whittlesey.
Different sites use clays, usually from their local quarries.
The clays all have their own properties and these will obviously cause the finished product to be different.
One of these properties is water absorbsion. Accrington will be around 4% whereas London (according to a data sheet I have attached) could be 23%.
One of the causes of brick flaking would be water being absorbed and then a frost. This causes expansion and flaking.

https://www.forterra.co.uk/about-us/res ... downloads/

I used to live near Whittlesey.

Bricks and potatoes.

There are various references to Dry Seal, Water Seal and renders above. Care should be taken in applying some of these sealants as they can prevent stone/masonry fabric from breathing.
Natural drying out does not take place as moisture is trapped withing the fabric.
Always take advice from a number of sources (some advice will be conflicting) before using such materials. Other options might include lime pointing, lime render, increasing the number of ventilation bricks, weep holes etc.

Westleigh wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 1:42 pm

My garage and outhouses are built from Nori Bricks ,built to last but what b - - -ds to drill.

Treat yourself to a Bosch* SDS drill, problem solved.

* Other makes available.

We have a new build with exposed west-facing back wall. We had roller blinds fitted above bifold doors in spring that were subsequently removed in summer and replaced with perfect fit as we didn’t like the originals. Water started pouring in through the holes where the blinds had been fitted just before Xmas when we had driving rain, and has been coming in every time it rains since. Housebuilder thinks blind fitter may have drilled through the cavity tray when fitting. Hopefully getting it fixed next week but will involve taking external soldier bricks out above bifold doors to access cavity and then sealing any holes in the cavity tray if that is the cause. What surprised me was the amount of water that was coming in. The bricks must be very porous because there is no sign of external damage to suggest it could be running in somewhere. Blind fitter is reputable and been around for years so surprised they would have made such a basic and significant error when fitting. Anyway, we should find out next week if that was the cause and hopefully get it resolved. Typical that it happened just before Xmas when building trade go on hols for two weeks, otherwise could have got it sorted sooner. Been collecting water in buckets in meantime.

Thanks for the interesting and useful advice/replies. Ten years ago I had the problem west facing wall repointed and I then applied STORMDRY as recommended by the British Brick Association.
It seems to have worked well but recent repeated storms appear to have been just too much rain to repel. I’ll get the wall repointed and reapply Stormdry and just hope for the best. Stormdry appears to be expensive but if I only need to apply it every 10 years then it’s a relative bargain.

After doing (a significant amount of) further research I think I need a cavity tray retro-fitting to my very wet west facing wall.

Anyone interested in finding out about cavity trays and weep holes might find the following YouTube video interesting.

https://youtu.be/1yYhL3IUAoc?si=BDgBttu2lMadeTcm

Make sure it's a quality builder you use and be prepared to have to replace a couple of the bricks as to get them out then clean them there's a chance you'll lose a couple.