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The pointing job in Charleston that made me rethink my mortar mix
I was down in Charleston last month doing some repointing on a row of 1840s townhouses. The joints were crumbling but not from age, the homeowner had someone redo them 10 years ago with a modern mix that was way too hard. It trapped moisture and blew out the brick edges. I mean, I've been doing this for 15 years and I've always just used the same bagged mix for everything. But watching that damage up close, I think we all need to stop being lazy about matching the old lime-based stuff. Has anyone else had to fix work that was too strong for the brick, or am I the only one running into this?
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angelamurphy1d agoMost Upvoted
Same thing happened to me once, the old brick turned to powder under that hard mix.
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carr.luna1d ago
Did you try wetting the old stuff down before you mixed it? Soaking the brick for a few hours helps a ton, @angelamurphy, even if it feels like a waste of time. That hard mix just sucks all the moisture out of anything older than a decade.
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