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Combining modern mortars with vintage brick can cause brick to deteriorate.

BEFORE attempting DIY Maintenance on your column...

      You Need to Know what We Know

1) Mis-matching Brick to Mortar Spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E 

 

This pillar is not from the 30's as its conditions suggests, it is pre-1980s, the era when hydralic presses began compressing brick clay so intently they became stone-like. Todays mortars are built specifically for these highly-dense bricks. 

 

Today's mortars are NOT compatible with porous bricks made prior to the introduction of hydraulic presses.

 

  • Brick porosity increases for every decending decade from 1980

  • Bricks with high porosity swell and contract with moisture

  • ONLY lime based mortar, formulated to the era, should be used on porous bricks.

  • Bricks trapped within a non-yielding environment will crumble at the face or interior and are often damaged beyond use.

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When unyielding mortars are coupled with bricks that need to expand and contract, it is the brick that will succumb to

pressures within the fixed cavity!

2) Examine Brick & Stone Columns regularly 

 

Like chimneys and retaining walls, mailbox and property columns should be examined yearly for cracked mortar, and signs of water permeation. 

 

Columns -like chimneys and walls- are susceptable

to water damage when the mortars fail.

 

  • Repointing a column is not expensive

  • Masonry technicians match mortor to brick or stone permeability

  • During maintenance, masons can remove mnimal bricks on the facia and frame to accommodate upgraded mailboxes.

Let us Illustrate:

When this column mailbox began to lean and show signs of mortar failure, our technicians were able to reset the column, repoint the grout, and make room for a high-security locking mailbox and address plaque. The change is not only appealing, it provides the homeowner with the security they lacked from their old-style mailbox.

Double Duty:

In addition to replacing this park sidewalk with a modern stamped concrete one, we were asked to update and repoint this mailbox column. Later, the sidewalk, the landscaping, and the mailbox are stalwarts of modern technology. 

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