A Guide In Masonry Repair
The strongest and most durable construction material for a long time has been the brick. As a matter of fact, there are actually a lot of buildings made of bricks that are still standing today. But you need to know that there is also a weakness when it comes to masonry. That is why it is important for you to call a professional right away after you will discover some great moisture damage and crumbling bricks. But if you will discover that the mortar joints are decaying, then you really need to do something about it. If you want to know how you can prolong and preserve the structural integrity of your brickwork, then you need to read this article.
You will need some important tools. The power tools that you will need are the rotary hammer drill that comes with a flat chisel head bit and an angle grinder with a 4 to 4.5 inch diamond blade. You will need to make use of a flat blade that will press the new mortar to the joints, as well as a tuck and pointer trowel. It is also important to have a joint raker or some other similar tool for the shaping and smoothing of the wet paste in order to complete the repair. This will also require a bag of mortar that will be mixed inside a bucket.
It is important to know how bad the problem is so that a successful masonry will be done. You will know the extent of the problem by using a house key and scratch it on the joints in the middle of the brick. Take note that solid mortal will not crumble so it needs to be replaced if it will come out in chunks. After gathering this information, it is important to use an angle grinder to create a horizontal cut below and above every joint. After the bad sections will be cut loose, the hammer drill will be working through the grooves and will chisel them out of the wall. The new grooves can be cleaned out using a stiff paintbrush.
A new batch of mortar is needed once the bad mortar will be removed. You should mix the mortar with water based on what is written on the insturctions, take note that the consistency of the mortar must be like a thick peanut butter. A glob of paste will be placed on top of the trowel and the trowel will be placed inside the empty groove. The mortar will be tightly packed between the bricks using a tuck pointer. It is also important to make sure that the paste will not harden once the grooves are filled in with the new mortar. Normally, a new masoned joint is ready to strike after about thirty minutes of new mortar application. So every time you will need a masonry repair, you need to make sure that you know the professionals to call.