Extent of Wall Damage?

We share a brick wall (brownstones) with our neighbor, whose top floor tenant had a leaking pipe. Over a period of time, the water leaked into our side of the wall and has now caused a brownish water stain on our top floor wall. It has also caused our 2nd floor wall to not only…

by CHM
05/03/2010

We share a brick wall (brownstones) with our neighbor, whose top floor tenant had a leaking pipe. Over a period of time, the water leaked into our side of the wall and has now caused a brownish water stain on our top floor wall. It has also caused our 2nd floor wall to not only stain, but the plaster has become crumbly. The neighbor’s contractor came over to our house yesterday to evaluate the extent of the damage and he said our bricks/mortar are not affected and that he just needs to repaint (the top floor) and to replace the crumbling paster with dry wall. I pointed out to him, that I do not want dry wall to replace our plaster wall. Is it possible that there is no structural damage caused by their leaking pipe? do we just need to re-plaster our walls?

Comments

  1. Just today I worked on a clients shared wall with a similar problem. It seems like the damage was caused from a damaged chimney. The chimney was fixed, and when I removed the damaged plaster and scratch coat to the brick, it was dry enough to know the leak had stopped, and I was able to rebuild with structa lite and skim coat over it.

    I recommend you do the same and make sure the brick is dry before you allow it to be gone over. I also suggest you insist on plaster not drywall. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

    deefinite@gmail.com

  2. How big is the affected area? Put down floor protection, start scraping, see if plaster crumbles or not. It may not. You may need just Killz to stop the stain. If it is crumbling, you can replace a small area with sheetrock and skim coat over. If done by an experienced taper, you will not see the fix.

  • Get started on

    your next project

    Find a Pro