Mortar Flaking Off

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in Missouri, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

We got what the elec. utility is calling a "30-year ice storm" last
week, .5 million houses w/o power. Mostly freezing rain, tree limbs
etc falling like crazy.

On one corner of the house (facing East), there's lots of mortar
flakes where the foundation meets the sidewalk.

Walked around the house, found most of the mortar to be reasonably
solid (not flaking when I run a finger across it). Much, much better
than on the flaky corner.

Over the years, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of tuckpointing, maybe 3
cartridges of a good compound in a standard caulk gun.

Should I expect even deterioration of mortar on the 4 exterior walls
of my little house? Can anyone think of why it might be much worse
on only one corner?

Thx,
Puddin'

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...

http://www.concretecentre.net/main.asp?page=660

In article , Pudding Dot Man At Gmail Dot Com wrote:
Mortar Flaking Off

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in Missouri, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

We got what the elec. utility is calling a "30-year ice storm" last
week, .5 million houses w/o power. Mostly freezing rain, tree limbs
etc falling like crazy.

On one corner of the house (facing East), there's lots of mortar
flakes where the foundation meets the sidewalk.

Walked around the house, found most of the mortar to be reasonably
solid (not flaking when I run a finger across it). Much, much better
than on the flaky corner.

Over the years, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of tuckpointing, maybe 3
cartridges of a good compound in a standard caulk gun.

Should I expect even deterioration of mortar on the 4 exterior walls
of my little house? Can anyone think of why it might be much worse
on only one corner?

Any signs/sources of extra moisture on that corner?

Freezing water in the mortar can certainly result in
flaking as described.

I'd be checking the gutters, downspouts, outside faucets,
soil drainage etc. in that area.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:18:18 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar)
wrote:

In article , Pudding Dot Man At Gmail Dot Com wrote:
Mortar Flaking Off

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in Missouri, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

We got what the elec. utility is calling a "30-year ice storm" last
week, .5 million houses w/o power. Mostly freezing rain, tree limbs
etc falling like crazy.

On one corner of the house (facing East), there's lots of mortar
flakes where the foundation meets the sidewalk.

Walked around the house, found most of the mortar to be reasonably
solid (not flaking when I run a finger across it). Much, much better
than on the flaky corner.

Over the years, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of tuckpointing, maybe 3
cartridges of a good compound in a standard caulk gun.

Should I expect even deterioration of mortar on the 4 exterior walls
of my little house? Can anyone think of why it might be much worse
on only one corner?

Any signs/sources of extra moisture on that corner?

Not that I could see. Storm blew mostly west to east.
Flaky area faced east, was partially protected.

Freezing water in the mortar can certainly result in
flaking as described.

90% of it concentrated on about 1/8 of the wall area?

I'd be checking the gutters, downspouts, outside faucets,
soil drainage etc. in that area.

I'll take another look (when the wind chill falls
below flogging zero). :-)

Thx,
P

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...

In article , Pudding Dot Man At Gmail Dot Com wrote:

Any signs/sources of extra moisture on that corner?

Not that I could see. Storm blew mostly west to east.
Flaky area faced east, was partially protected.

Freezing water in the mortar can certainly result in
flaking as described.

90% of it concentrated on about 1/8 of the wall area?

Sure. The fact that the flaking was so localized tends
to suggest (to me) that you do have some localized
moisture.

Assuming that mechanical damage is unlikely, it's hard
to think what else might cause the situation you
describe.

BTW, don't forget to consider what's going on in the
inside of the house next to that corner. A leaking
pipe inside the home is certainly a possibility.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

roof leak
no gutter
rain soaked brick
dryer or vent on the inside causing extreme sweating
plumbing leak causing wet brick work
flashing problem at a window or other penetration allowing water
in the wall
___________________________
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG


"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
...
Mortar Flaking Off

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in Missouri, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

We got what the elec. utility is calling a "30-year ice storm"
last
week, .5 million houses w/o power. Mostly freezing rain, tree
limbs
etc falling like crazy.

On one corner of the house (facing East), there's lots of mortar
flakes where the foundation meets the sidewalk.

Walked around the house, found most of the mortar to be
reasonably
solid (not flaking when I run a finger across it). Much, much
better
than on the flaky corner.

Over the years, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of tuckpointing,
maybe 3
cartridges of a good compound in a standard caulk gun.

Should I expect even deterioration of mortar on the 4 exterior
walls
of my little house? Can anyone think of why it might be much
worse
on only one corner?

Thx,
Puddin'

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...

On Fri, 8 Dec 2006 00:34:04 -0600, "DanG" wrote:

roof leak
Nope
no gutter
Nope
rain soaked brick
Nope
dryer or vent on the inside causing extreme sweating
Nope
plumbing leak causing wet brick work
No plumbing in that wall.
flashing problem at a window or other penetration allowing water
in the wall
Less certain about this. Awning (over window) pulled away
maybe .5". The gutter is above it, but there might be seepage
between gutter and fascia.

I'll have to check whilst it rains.

Thx,
P


"Puddin' Man" wrote in message
.. .
Mortar Flaking Off

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in Missouri, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

We got what the elec. utility is calling a "30-year ice storm"
last
week, .5 million houses w/o power. Mostly freezing rain, tree
limbs
etc falling like crazy.

On one corner of the house (facing East), there's lots of mortar
flakes where the foundation meets the sidewalk.

Walked around the house, found most of the mortar to be
reasonably
solid (not flaking when I run a finger across it). Much, much
better
than on the flaky corner.

Over the years, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of tuckpointing,
maybe 3
cartridges of a good compound in a standard caulk gun.

Should I expect even deterioration of mortar on the 4 exterior
walls
of my little house? Can anyone think of why it might be much
worse
on only one corner?

Thx,
Puddin'

Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...


Pease pudding hot,
Pease pudding cold,
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old ...