I recently removed some very deteriorated plaster from an interior brick wall. I used a rotary hammer and a traditional hammer and chisel. After having removed about half the plaster I stopped because I realized that both methods do a tremendous amount of damage to the brick underneith. Here are some photos:
Here is the exterior. The window here is the same window. There are a few minor cracks in the mortar, but there are no cracks in the bricks like there are on the interior wall.
Both methods are removing a fair amount of the brick's face. Compounding this is the fact that the motor is basically sand at this point.
This is the interior side of an exterior wall. IE, it is the inner layer of the brick. The exterior layer of brick was inspected and is in good shape.
I am wondering what my options are. Originally I was intending to expose the brick wall, but that seems like a crazy task at this point as all the mortar needs to be repointed. But can I just replaster over this mess or will that also come back to haunt me? What are my options for addressing this and how big of a problem is it?
Overall I am not sure what to do with the wall. I wanted to have a nice exposed brick wall along the entire north side of the house, but given the condition I am no longer sure what to do.