pedrobedro
Man at Matalan
- Messages
- 12,753
- Location
- CX near Chesterfield
Wire cup brush on the brick faces, rake out and repoint.
Wire cup brush on the brick faces, rake out and repoint.
Won't any form of media blasting or wire brushing take the original glaze off of the bricks?
A whole house?
A penetrating silane-siloxane sealer is excellent for treating freshly exposed bricks and mortar, as it is hydrophobic yet allows bricks and mortar to breathe, and it makes little or no change in the appearance of bricks and mortar. Any needed repointing should be done prior to applying the sealer, and the pointing mortar should be somewhat softer than the bricks to prevent the bricks from spalling. I used lime-putty mortar for pointing the old soft bricks in our previous house project, but you can use other mortar types with harder bricks.Do absolutely make sure you treat the bricks afterwards with some form of sealer. Blasting may leave them more porous and prone to frost damage otherwise.
Are they cavity walls or single skin do you know? If single skin walls then use lime mortar for any repointing to allow the wall to breathe.
Because they would have had a seven year apprenticeship, and this was the standard of the day, along with symmetrical brickwork.The mortar joints are very thin (how did they lay bricks to such tight tolerance without 10mm beds like we have today?) so hopefully the mortar will stay ut - seems solid enough.
This is kind of an aside, but I thought it might be of some related interest: We repaired quite a bit of the mortar in four fireplaces, four chimney flues, and a large fireplace arch in the old (220+/- years) house that we recently sold. The mortar joints averaged around 5mm thick. This scenario might not apply to the mortar that was used in your house, but in our case I think one reason for using thin mortar joints might have been a matter of economics at the time the house was built. For example, the cost and effort in making slaked lime and hair-reinforced lime-putty mortar (limestone wasn't always available locally) vs bricks made from local clay and using local wood for firing might have made it attractive to economise on mortar. I also think that with a very soft and initially weak mortar (lime-putty mortar strengthens with age), thinner joints might be less subject to crushing. Thinner lime-putty joints might also set a little faster than thicker joints, allowing more courses to be laid in a day's work.The mortar joints are very thin (how did they lay bricks to such tight tolerance without 10mm beds like we have today?) so hopefully the mortar will stay put - seems solid enough.