Brick repair for older houses in Hoopeston

Brick fails in a handful of ways, and each one tells you something. A brick with its face flaking or popped off has been soaking up water and freezing. A crack that steps down through the joints like a staircase usually means something underneath has moved. Loose brick at the top of a wall or chimney means the mortar has let go. A bulge means the outer layer of brick has pulled away from what is behind it.

• Flaking and spalled brick faces
• Step cracks through the joints
• Cracks straight through the brick
• Loose and missing brick
• Bulging sections of wall

Replacing a damaged brick is the easy part. The question that matters is why it got damaged. Around here the answer is almost always water, and it usually comes from a short list: a gutter that overflows onto the wall, a downspout that dumps at the base, ground that slopes toward the house, an old repair done in hard cement mortar, or a foundation moving underneath.

If the cause is left alone, the new brick fails the same way. So Brian looks at the wall and what is around it before deciding what to replace.

Damaged brick is cut out carefully so the brick around it is not disturbed. The opening is cleaned out, and new brick is set in fresh mortar, tied into the wall, and the joints are finished to match. Where the damage is a section rather than a few bricks, that section is taken down and rebuilt.

Matching matters. Old brick comes in all kinds of sizes, colors and textures, and a patch in the wrong brick stands out for as long as the house stands. Salvaged brick, or brick from a hidden part of the house, is sometimes the best match for an old wall.

A step crack in a brick wall is often the brick telling you about the foundation. If the foundation under that corner is settling or moving, the brick above it cracks along the weakest path, which is the mortar joints. Repairing the crack without dealing with the foundation only lasts until it moves again.

That is one reason it helps to have someone look who does both brick and foundations. Brian can tell you if the crack is the problem or a sign of one.

On most houses around Hoopeston, brick damage concentrates in two places. The bottom few courses near the ground, which get soaked by splashback, snow and wet soil and freeze wet all winter. And the chimney, which takes weather from every side. Those are the first places to look and often the first places that need repair.

Send a photo from far enough back to see the whole wall, and one close up of the worst brick. If you have a step crack, get a photo that shows where it starts and ends. Text them to (217) 549-2230 with your town.