Brick
Brick Maintenance
Masonry walls are very durable, and brick walls are no exception.
However, brick walls need do maintenance in order to keep their striking visual effect as well as to maintain their functional properties, whether it is water proofing or structural. Below are some of the areas where Federal Masonry can help you to maintain your brick masonry.
The Mortar Between Your Wall’s Bricks
Usually, the mortar joints of a brick veneer wall last about 25 years, while the bricks themselves can last well over 100 years. Therefore, every once in a while you will need to provide maintenance to those mortar joints.
The most common reasons for repointing brick masonry is to improve water penetration resistance as well as aestetical purposes.
Repointing deteriorated mortar joints is one of the most effective and permanent ways of decreasing water entry into brickwork, simply because the most common means of water entry into a brick masonry wall is through debonded, cracked or deteriorated mortar joints.
Loose or Cracked Brick Building Walls
A structural brick wall is the brick wall that actually sustains part of the structure – your house for example.- Any failure in a structural brick wall can lead to disastrous results to your property.
Structural brick walls are used in secondary structures, like for example your porch or garage (example at the left).
Water, cold, heat, snow and strong winds are some examples of agents that can damage your brick walls, whether they are structural or not.
If your brick wall is not structural, then your waterproofing is compromised; on the other side, if your brick wall is structural then your building’s safety is compromised.
Efflorescence
Although brick foundations are not as common as concrete, they are just as susceptible to bowing & cracking. Similar to concrete, slight bows in brick foundations are not easily noticed. Only upon closer inspection do you see the “belly”. Often, some crumbling of the mortar will be an indicator.
As is the case with concrete, once a bow has occurred in a brick wall, that wall is no longer structurally sound. Tremendous pressure is being put on the wall, not only from the top, but just as likely from the exterior. The cracks that typically follow a bowed wall are not far behind making repair more complex and expensive.
Bowed Brick Walls & Foundations
Although brick foundations are not as common as concrete, they are just as susceptible to bowing & cracking. Similar to concrete, slight bows in brick foundations are not easily noticed. Only upon closer inspection do you see the “belly”. Often, some crumbling of the mortar will be an indicator.
As is the case with concrete, once a bow has occurred in a brick wall, that wall is no longer structurally sound. Tremendous pressure is being put on the wall, not only from the top, but just as likely from the exterior. The cracks that typically follow a bowed wall are not far behind making repair more complex and expensive.
Based on the type and extent of damage we can either repair the wall -if the damage is within safe limits- or coordinate your repair efforts if more than one trade is involved.