A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the house.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I need to
rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the
house. Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I
need to rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

I have bad vibes about the re-pointing and how it was done and what
materials were used.

What are star wall supports?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Piles....like here and there or along the entire stretch of the wall?
Are they neat little piles like someone poured sand in one place?
Are they the same color as the brick or are they lighter? possiably
pinkish? red+white?
What changes have occured on the exerior of the house or land in these
area if any?

wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the house.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I need to
rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

Thanks for your response! I'm affraid the repointing was done prior to
our buying the house - I can't speak to the quality of the work.
Although the exterior bricks and mortar look great. The bricks arent
flaking and aren't easy to gouge. How do you suppose inferior pointing
would result in this dust?

The 'star' supports were installed at the time of the repointing to
stabalize the bowing on the front wall. They are essentially big
flanges that are bolted to rods that are run along and are anchored to
the floor joists on the second floor. There are two of them. These
are used on a lot of the older row homes in the area. If anyone knows
what these are technically called it might help.

One concern (from me - a non expert) is that the wall is shifting and
this shifting is resulting in wear on the bricks and causing the dust.


Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the
house. Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I
need to rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

I have bad vibes about the re-pointing and how it was done and what
materials were used.

What are star wall supports?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

There are essentially two piles, one on the front wall and one on the
back. The one in the front is more substantial and does look like
someone poored sand from one spot on the wall. I don't know if they
are in localized piles because the problem is localized or if that the
only place where there is a gap in the interior of the wall that allows
the dust to enter the basement.

As for the color and the material of the dust I did the following:
Affraid that this might be termite saw dust, that just picked up red
dust from falling down a brick wall I took a handful and mixed it with
water and let it settle in a glass. I figured that if there was
sawdust from wood it would float and the ceramic would sink when it
settled. I was left with nothing floating and a settement on the
bottom of the glass, leading me to think it's all ceramic.

With that said the color could be a little lighter than the brick.
What do you have in mind?

The only changes to the exterior that I know of are the anchors through
the front wall that I've described above. As for the area: this is an
interesting question. Theres been no seismic activity in philly
however there is a good amount of construction. There is a property
katty-corner to mine on which a construction team has been digging the
foundation for a new building. Less than a month ago the city tore up
the street infront of the place and laid down new maccadam.

It's possible that these things have caused an undue amount of
vibration and created the bricks to loose a bit of material. Perhaps
I'll vaccum the piles up and keep an I on this being a chronic problem.

I appreciate your thoughts!



Italian wrote:
Piles....like here and there or along the entire stretch of the wall?
Are they neat little piles like someone poured sand in one place?
Are they the same color as the brick or are they lighter? possiably
pinkish? red+white?
What changes have occured on the exerior of the house or land in these
area if any?

wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the house.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I need to
rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

Steve wrote:
Thanks for your response! I'm affraid the repointing was done prior
to our buying the house - I can't speak to the quality of the work.
Although the exterior bricks and mortar look great. The bricks arent
flaking and aren't easy to gouge. How do you suppose inferior
pointing would result in this dust?

Pointing old brick with modern harder materials can cause problems as
can things like blocking weep holes or creating situations that might allow
water in that were not there before.


The 'star' supports were installed at the time of the repointing to
stabalize the bowing on the front wall. They are essentially big
flanges that are bolted to rods that are run along and are anchored to
the floor joists on the second floor. There are two of them. These
are used on a lot of the older row homes in the area. If anyone knows
what these are technically called it might help.

I wonder if that "dust" might not be from drilling the holes for the
rods.


One concern (from me - a non expert) is that the wall is shifting and
this shifting is resulting in wear on the bricks and causing the dust.


Joseph Meehan wrote:
wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the
house. Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I
need to rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5
years. 'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross
the house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

I have bad vibes about the re-pointing and how it was done and
what materials were used.

What are star wall supports?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit



--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

wrote:
A mystery for brick experts:

I've got a 100+ year old row home in Philadelphia. The exterior is
brick. I've recently noticed that 'piles' of red brick dust are
collecting in the basement along the front and back walls of the
house. Does anyone have a suggestion for a list of problems that I
need to rule out to figure out what is happening?

Here is some potentially useful information:
The front and back exteriors have been repointed in the last 5 years.
'Star' wall-supports were installed at that time.
The front exterior wall shows a slight 'barreling' (bowing accross the
house as well as down the house).
The basement walls are stone and have been reparged in the last 6
months.

Any ideas are appreciated!

Masonry ants?

replying to Italian, gkryhewy wrote:
Are they neat little piles like someone poured sand in one place? Are they the
same color as the brick or are they lighter?
Old post, but google brought me to it when I was searching my issue. Since we
moved into our house 4 years ago, I've noticed this in the front of my
basement: 3 "neat little" piles of brick that come back over ~6 months after I
vacuum them away. Actually two are brick colored, and one is sand or sawdust
colored. They are about equidistant along the front wall. It's an old rowhouse
house (~100 years) that was massively renovated about 12 years ago and
extended backward significantly. Front half is brick under stucco, back half
is wood frame under stucco. The dust piles are only along the front facade,
and only in the basement. Attached is a photo of one of the piles; you can
see dust along the concrete wall there (which covers the front foundation
below grade); the dust is coming from above. Any thoughts on whether this is
something I should be concerned about, or other things to look for, would be
appreciated. The basement is always pretty dry since I installed a
dehumidifier a few years ago.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/cr

On Fri, 05 Jan 2018 20:44:02 GMT, gkryhewy
m wrote:

replying to Italian, gkryhewy wrote:
Are they neat little piles like someone poured sand in one place? Are they the
same color as the brick or are they lighter?
Old post, but google brought me to it when I was searching my issue. Since we
moved into our house 4 years ago, I've noticed this in the front of my
basement: 3 "neat little" piles of brick that come back over ~6 months after I
vacuum them away. Actually two are brick colored, and one is sand or sawdust
colored. They are about equidistant along the front wall. It's an old rowhouse
house (~100 years) that was massively renovated about 12 years ago and
extended backward significantly. Front half is brick under stucco, back half
is wood frame under stucco. The dust piles are only along the front facade,
and only in the basement. Attached is a photo of one of the piles; you can
see dust along the concrete wall there (which covers the front foundation
below grade); the dust is coming from above. Any thoughts on whether this is
something I should be concerned about, or other things to look for, would be
appreciated. The basement is always pretty dry since I installed a
dehumidifier a few years ago.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/cr

Termites or carpenter ants??? Something with strong jawa.

On Friday, January 5, 2018 at 3:44:06 PM UTC-5, gkryhewy wrote:
replying to Italian, gkryhewy wrote:
Are they neat little piles like someone poured sand in one place? Are they the
same color as the brick or are they lighter?
Old post, but google brought me to it when I was searching my issue. Since we
moved into our house 4 years ago, I've noticed this in the front of my
basement: 3 "neat little" piles of brick that come back over ~6 months after I
vacuum them away. Actually two are brick colored, and one is sand or sawdust
colored. They are about equidistant along the front wall. It's an old rowhouse
house (~100 years) that was massively renovated about 12 years ago and
extended backward significantly. Front half is brick under stucco, back half
is wood frame under stucco. The dust piles are only along the front facade,
and only in the basement. Attached is a photo of one of the piles; you can
see dust along the concrete wall there (which covers the front foundation
below grade); the dust is coming from above. Any thoughts on whether this is
something I should be concerned about, or other things to look for, would be
appreciated. The basement is always pretty dry since I installed a
dehumidifier a few years ago.
https://www.homeownershub.com/img/cr

I don't see any neat little piles. I see something distributed around
a bit. WE aren't there, I would think you could figure out if it's wood
or brick with some simple inspection or testing. When it's wet, what happens?
Does it burn? Smell like burning wood? If it's wood, I'd suspect insects.

replying to gkryhewy, Dee wrote:
I have the exact same thing in my basement! My house is also over 100 years
old. I also notice that the exterior of the house (in places only have that
white dust on the bricks). Any help on what I should do would be appreciated!

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...nt-139190-.htm

On 1/26/2018 6:14 PM, Dee wrote:
replying to gkryhewy, Dee wrote:
I have the exact same thing in my basement!Â* My house is also over 100
years
old.Â* I also notice that the exterior of the house (in places only have
that
white dust on the bricks).Â* Any help on what I should do would be
appreciated!


Water can cause efflorescence on concrete. I've seen it on block walls
and concrete bricks:

http://www.concreteconstruction.net/...ou-remove-it_o

Some insects like carpenter bees can leave a pile of sawdust under their
holes. Beetles and carpenter ants might too.

On 1/26/2018 6:35 PM, Frank wrote:
On 1/26/2018 6:14 PM, Dee wrote:
replying to gkryhewy, Dee wrote:
I have the exact same thing in my basement!Â* My house is also over 100
years
old.Â* I also notice that the exterior of the house (in places only
have that
white dust on the bricks).Â* Any help on what I should do would be
appreciated!


Water can cause efflorescence on concrete.Â* I've seen it on block walls
and concrete bricks:

http://www.concreteconstruction.net/...ou-remove-it_o


Some insects like carpenter bees can leave a pile of sawdust under their
holes.Â* Beetles and carpenter ants might too.

Somewhat better url where photo shows concrete efflorescence on brick wall:

https://www.concretenetwork.com/doug...lorescence.htm