Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Steve Firth wrote:
Mine seems to have survived rather well in over 100 years. Seen plenty
of newer houses with spalling bricks. But a different type of brick,
usually.

It holds water agains the brick/stone and encourages both penetrating
damp and spalling.

Badly done, then. The top edge should slope down to avoid holding water.

I've never seen it well done. Indeed I suspect that builders
deliberately do it badly to encourage problems that they can come back
and "fix" for a fee.