How To Repair Brick Siding

• Roofing & Siding

Brick Basics: Maintenance, Intendance, and Cleaning

Brick is a material built to terminal, just it still calls for some maintenance. While some cases are better left for the professionals, there are many ways for homeowners to maintain and prevent farther damage to brick. These unproblematic maintenance tips will help go along your brick, and your house, looking brand new.

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From stately colonials to simple ranches, brick has remained every bit a popular building material for centuries. Its energy efficiency and artful appeal are an added bonus in terms of resale value. Brick is relatively maintenance gratis, but occasional cleaning, spot checks for h2o damage, and repointing are necessary in order to ensure long-lasting structural integrity.

The least aggressive approach should exist your starting time plan of action when information technology comes to cleaning brick. Just like soiled article of clothing, different types of dirt on your home's exterior will require a different cleaning agent. One time a yr use a garden hose, with a spray nozzle, or a spray bottle to remove whatever loose clay.

MOSS, MOLD, MILDEW

If a item side of your home receives little to no sunlight and the nearby vegetation is damp, be on the scout for moss, mold, or mildew growth. A solution of one loving cup of bleach mixed with a gallon of water tin can be applied with a scrub brush tin can be used to make clean most problem areas. Use a natural or synthetic bristle brush (wire brushes leave traces of steel backside that will rust and discolor the bricks). Earlier applying a bleach solution to brick, give the area a thorough soaking. This will assistance forestall the brick from absorbing the bleach.

WATER Damage

Water damage is caused by one of 2 conditions: splash dorsum or rising damp. In splash back, rain continually beating confronting the brick soaks into the mortar, causing the mortar joints or the bricks to crack. Rise clammy results when footing h2o seeps up from below, leaving behind what is called a tide line. The moisture above the tide line will eventually evaporate, but the common salt crystals that remain volition, over time, cause the bricks and mortar to suspension down. Freezing and thawing cycles can accelerate damage to water-soaked brick, then repairing issues early volition forestall more than extensive repairs in the hereafter. Look for h2o harm on an annual footing, and budget for some possible repointing every 5 to ten years.

REPOINTING BRICK

Repointing is necessary in places where the mortar joints have become soft or the mortar itself is cracked or damaged. The damaged mortar is removed advisedly so as not to disturb the surrounding brickwork. Fresh mortar is practical in layers. When repointing, the depth of the new mortar should exist twice the width of the mortar joint. Mortar applied directly to the damaged surface will non hold up.

Owners of historic or older homes will want to make certain that the fresh mortar matches the original. A contractor will take a sample of the mortar, crush it, and dissolve information technology in acid. This process removes the binder and leaves behind the sand aggregate, making it easier to identify the proper shade.

REMOVING PAINT FROM BRICK

Painting a brick facade was commencement in vogue in the early on 1800's. Removing pigment from brick can be a painstaking process. Chemical treatments piece of work best for paint removal, and are best left to professionals. Sandblasting should never exist the remedy for paint removal, equally it causes lasting damage to the beauty and integrity of brick. The remaining brick will be crude in texture, and since sandblasting removes the kiln-hardened outer fire-peel of the brick, it will go more susceptible to dirt build-up and moisture penetration. This is especially true of bricks made earlier the plow of the century.

Ambitious treatments, like chemic applications used to remove chalk, calcium carbonate, and rust, are best left to a professional. Chemicals must exist spot tested in diverse concentrations. Also loftier of a concentration can etch the surface of the brick, damage window drinking glass, or cause discoloration.

Source: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/370-brick-basics-maintenance-care-and-cleaning/

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