I have a turn of the century house and most of the basement is brick in
fairly good condition. however some spots are not so good the mortar in
between has come out up to about 1/2 inch and in some spots the brick is
flakey. i want to just mabye fill in the spots with mortar and paint over
it, (it was previously painted) and be done with it, not sure if i will
need a pro though, any ideas?

Rob

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:14:04 -0500, "robjoneswork"
wrote:

I have a turn of the century house and most of the basement is brick in
fairly good condition. however some spots are not so good the mortar in
between has come out up to about 1/2 inch and in some spots the brick is
flakey. i want to just mabye fill in the spots with mortar and paint over
it, (it was previously painted) and be done with it, not sure if i will
need a pro though, any ideas?


You're not fooling anyone.

"You're not fooling anyone."

What kind of a post is that? Honestly, did you just post to the wrong
newsgroup or something.

Rob,
I don't know all that much about masonry, but a quick search on google for
"damaged mortar" turned up this tutorial on diy.com

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/hx_oth...268597,00.html

It looks like this page has the answer to the questions you are asking
about your mortar/bricks.

Mike

Look at BIA (Brick Industry Association) web site.
Tech Notes are very useful.

You may have problems with dampness, lime mortar, and soft brick.
You can repoint (not repaint) the brick following Tech Notes.
It's not unusual to have underfiered brick used in basement locations.
Check for the standard sources of moisture in the ground around the
building.
I would NOT repaint, since it does not allow bricks to breath and may
encourage flaking. This based on brick basement walls in my 1834 house.
TB

robjoneswork wrote:
I have a turn of the century house and most of the basement is brick in
fairly good condition. however some spots are not so good the mortar
in between has come out up to about 1/2 inch and in some spots the
brick is flakey. i want to just mabye fill in the spots with mortar
and paint over it, (it was previously painted) and be done with it,
not sure if i will need a pro though, any ideas?

Rob

All I can suggest is to do some good research before you start. (OK you
have started that by posting here - continue by following the links others
have provided.

Using modern materials on a old home can cause a lot of damage.

BTW do you mean your home is 6 years old or 106 years old? :-)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

www.bia.org



wrote in message
oups.com...
Look at BIA (Brick Industry Association) web site.
Tech Notes are very useful.

You may have problems with dampness, lime mortar, and soft brick.
You can repoint (not repaint) the brick following Tech Notes.
It's not unusual to have underfiered brick used in basement locations.
Check for the standard sources of moisture in the ground around the
building.
I would NOT repaint, since it does not allow bricks to breath and may
encourage flaking. This based on brick basement walls in my 1834 house.
TB

robjoneswork wrote:
I have a turn of the century house and most of the basement is brick in
fairly good condition. however some spots are not so good the mortar in
between has come out up to about 1/2 inch and in some spots the brick is
flakey. i want to just mabye fill in the spots with mortar and paint over
it, (it was previously painted) and be done with it, not sure if i will
need a pro though, any ideas?

A. Don't paint birck.

B. With old bricks, they were softer than modeern bricks and a softer
mortar was used. Using a modern mortar with these older bricks will
result in bad spalling of the brick faces. You may be looking at exactly
that as a previous owner may have repointed the old mortar with modern
mortar.

C. With something this old, you're going to want to do a bunch of
research, not only with the links that others here have pointed you to,
but also you should pick the brains of neighbors with similarly aged homes
nearby. They may have some insights from proffesionals they've hired or
experience with fixing this very same problem.

D. In you place, I'd see if I couldn't find an experienced Mason. You
have a bunch of unkonwns that will be hard to disgnose without being on
the spot with some expertise. Once you get the scoop of what's up, then
you can probably DIY it for any future poblems, or at least educate the
new kid on the block if he comes to you with this problem in his old house
he recently bought.


John
--
Remove the dead poet to e-mail, tho CC'd posts are unwelcome.
Mean People Suck - It takes two deviations to get cool.
Ask me about joining the NRA.

no the house was built 1890, and some of the bricks are ok but some are
just flakey,

Rob