Inevitably, if you have masonry work in climates such as Michigan, where you have
a range of seasons, you will have damaged brick. There are a variety of reasons brick can
become damaged. Obviously, if by some
kind of act of God or impact such as car accident or lightning, your brick will
take structural damage.
More commonly, brick become damaged from moisture. Most brick are made of clay and while often
resistant to moisture, brick are not waterproof. Some brick, in fact, are very porous and will
absorb moisture like a sponge. When the
climate changes and that moisture freezes or thaws, your brick can begin to
deteriorate or spall.
When the face pops off of a brick, it is referred to as a
spalled brick. This is a very common occurrence
in Michigan
where I perform most of my masonry repairs and construction. When your brick becomes spalled it is
necessary to remove the damaged brick and replace it. For the homeowner this can be a fairly labor
intensive job.
The first step in this process for a homeowner is to cut
away the damaged bricks. This is done by
attaching a diamond blade to a circular saw and cutting into the mortar joints
around the damaged brick. The brick is
then removed with a chisel and hammer.
It is best to start at the top when removing damaged brick, and work
your way down.
Once you have removed the damaged
brick, make sure to chisel out any excess mortar so when you place the new
brick in you can lay it plum and level.
For the contractor, I recommend
using a hammer drill or rotary hammer that has a chisel only setting. This is a far more effective and less labor
intensive way to remove damaged masonry units, but many homeowners may not want
to invest the extra money into this tool.
Before you begin laying your new
brick it is best to lay the brick dry.
Laying the brick dry is when you set the brick into the open area to
ensure that it will fit cleanly and lay properly before you set it in with
mortar. The benefit of laying dry brick
is that once you actually set the brick in mortar, you do not run the risk of
having to relay it again in order to achieve a good looking finished product.
After laying the dry brick, you will
want to mix your mortar. Good mortar
should have the consistency of whipped mashed potatoes. Spread your mortar evenly below where you
plan on laying the brick. Once you have
a nice, even layer of mortar, place your brick into the exposed area.
There are two ways to fill in the
vertical and horizontal mortar joints on the side and top of the brick. The first method is to fill your trowel with
mortar. Then take a tuckpointer and
press the mortar into the exposed joint.
The second method to fill in your
exposed mortar joints is to fill a grout bag with your mortar and squirt the
mortar into the crevices between the brick.
Using a grout bag is similar to decorating a cake, and looks very
similar to a cake decorating bag.
Once all your mortar joints are
filled you will want to let your mortar set up, or harden slightly. After your mortar has begun to harden it is
time to tool the mortar joints. Mortar
joints are tooled in several different ways.
There is the concave joint, the rough joint, the weeping joint, or the
rake joint. For more information on
types of joints, go to Masonry Joints
I hope you have found this
information useful. For a free
consultation on masonry repair feel free to call Brick Repair LLC at
248-895-7752, or visit www.michiganchimneyrepair.com. Brick Repair LLC services the following
communities: