When to Replace Old Brick?

[Mike Lamb]

About 50%+ of the Chicago common brick on this wall is pocked and soft. I think this is a triple wythe wall 90 yrs old house. Some brick replacement is obviousy needed. Would you call for brick replacement of all pocked brick?

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[John Dirks Jr]

It looks like point work with portland based cement is the culprit. Get the portland cement out of there and put in the correct lime based mix. Maybe then the deterioration will subside. Portland is too hard for the old soft brick.

[Marc]

It's too far gone. The damage is done. Replace it. Perhaps just by the wall instead of the entire installation.

Marc

[Les]

I think I would talk to the client, but not recommend full replacement. Did you see any dead bodies around the structure? If not, then it becomes a part of an inspection that is a combination of art and science.

Really the most important thing is the understanding of the client and the brick condition. As most know, I am not in favor of fortune teller inspectors.

[kurt]

It doesn't look all that bad; the problem is the mortar, not the brick. Rake out the dipsquat "tuckpointing", and everything would probably be fine.

[Bill Kibbel]

Something needs to be done once the glazed face of a brick has spalled. The exposed inner soft portion will continue to erode quite rapidly.

Remove the wrong mortar that caused it. Patch all spalled bricks with St. Astier's Lithomex. Repoint with natural hydraulic lime mortar.

http://www.limeworks.us/LithomexMore.html

[kurt]

How much energy I put into repairing it depends on a lot of stuff. I've been staring at one wall of my bungalow for 22 years that looks like the wall section in the pics; I raked out the mortar that caused the problems, and it's stayed pretty much the same for two decades. I suppose one day I may get inspired to chop out the bad bricks and replace them. Or not.

I restored the front wall the right way. Someday I hope to get to the stuff no one sees.

[Rob Amaral]

It's the mortah... and as usual..Kibble is Korrect (KIK) That is a photo I could take every week around Boston... you tell them and you move on to the next one..

[kurt]

That is a photo I could take every week around Boston... you tell them and you move on to the next one..

Or five, or six, or a dozen. That photo pretty much encapsulates what I look at half the time.

[hoosier inspector]

Sorry for the drift, but what is with all the red mortar in Chicago? Is it the original color, or only used to hide defects when re-pointing?