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Brick and mortar details from our Lock Arbor masons
Worth reading before you sign off on masonry work in Lock Arbor.
Packing deep joints in thin layers
The Brick Industry Association's maintenance note describes filling deep joints in layers about a quarter inch thick, tooling each one once it is thumbprint hard, instead of packing the whole depth in one pass. Thin layers cure evenly and bond to the layer beneath them.
It takes longer, and it is one of the differences you cannot see on the day the job ends. A joint filled in one heavy pass can shrink away from the brick and open a fine path for water. We build joints up the slower way because a chimney gets no shelter from the weather, and the repair has to hold for many seasons.
Taking out a damaged brick without harming the rest
When a brick has split or lost its face, it has to come out cleanly. Brick industry guidance suggests breaking the damaged unit to ease removal, then cutting the surrounding mortar away carefully so the bricks beside it stay sound and undisturbed.
The opening is cleared of dust, the surrounding brick is dampened so it does not pull water from the fresh mortar too quickly, and both the new unit and the edges of the opening are fully buttered before the brick is set. Full joints on every side keep the replaced brick from becoming the next place water gets in.
Learning what the old mortar is made of
Chimneys were not all laid with the same mortar. Brick Industry Association guidance suggests considering a test of the existing mortar when the goal is a matching repair mix, since its makeup affects strength, color and how it handles moisture.
On most jobs a close look at hardness, color and sand tells our masons enough to choose the mix. Where the chimney is older or the mortar behaves unusually, we tell you whether more testing is worth the time and cost. Either way, the mix we plan to use is named on your estimate, and we explain why it suits the brick that stays.
