creeper removal.repointing/rebuilding—advice please

We are looking to buy a circa 1880s 3-storey townhouse that has a Virginia creeper growing up its side wall from the neighbor’s garden which backs onto it, at the end of a row of houses. We have been advised to have the creeper removed and to have the wall repointed (with lime mortar); there is also a decorative parapet at the top that is slightly tilting that we have been advised to have rebuilt at the same time—to a depth of about six bricks. The contractor would install scaffolding in the neighbor’s garden to do the work. Can anyone advise how long we might expect a job like this to take, including scaffolding installation and removal? Thanks for any insight.

casacleo

in General Discussion 6 years and 11 months ago

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greenworks | 6 years and 11 months ago

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Yes, once you purchase double check on that parapet lean. Ours had a distinct lean on one side and the home inspector was very concerned about it, I was too. Think we even negotiated a credit for it. But once we bought and were able to give more thorough once-over, we saw that it was very stable. We later pulled the original 1910 blueprints from DOB and it appears to have been specced that way too.

Curious, resident2, what was reason for them being built with the lean?

yudashasom | 6 years and 11 months ago

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Is this parapet you describe below the roof gutter? If so, they were built that way.

MDR | 6 years and 11 months ago

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Removing the vines will allow you to assess the condition and repoint as needed – that makes sense. But if the mortar is loose it’s from 100+ years of exposure to the weather, not the vines. Anyway, your contractor is in the best position to make an estimate of the time required – so ask them.

Arkady | 6 years and 11 months ago

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Not as bad, Ran, but still undermines mortar & gets under parapet tiles.

randolph | 6 years and 11 months ago

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I thought a virginia creeper is OK for brick unlike other types of ivy?

Guest User | 6 years and 11 months ago

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unless you get the OK from your neighbor, make sure that the creeper is just trimmed off of your wall and not killed.

Arkady | 6 years and 11 months ago

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I had this done about 10 years ago by Park Slope Brownstone. Building is much longer than yours &, as I recall, it took about a week. It’s really important to do the work – I had to because the creeper had destroyed a lot of the mortar & I was given a ‘hazardous condition’ from EPA because bricks were at risk of falling out. Ditto the parapet.