Cracked and spalled chimney bricks replaced in Citrus Park

How salts inside brick push the face off

Water moving through masonry carries dissolved salts. When that water evaporates at the surface, the salts are left behind as efflorescence. If the water dries out a little way beneath the face instead, the salts form crystals within the brick itself.

The Brick Industry Association explains that salts crystallizing within masonry can develop pressures that may result in spalling. That is one reason spalling tends to follow water entry, and why slowing the water down matters as much as replacing the bricks.

Our team looks for signs of salt movement, such as persistent white deposits, when we assess the damaged area.

Setting the replacement brick

BIA's maintenance guidance lays out the method. The surrounding bricks are dampened but allowed to absorb the surface water, the replacement brick and the opening are fully buttered with mortar, and the brick is centered and pressed into place.

Excess mortar is struck off, the joints around the new brick are pointed to make sure they are full, and they are tooled once the mortar is thumbprint hard to match the profile of the existing joints.

Full joints around the new unit matter as much as the brick itself, because gaps there would let water straight back into the repair.

Removing ivy from a brick chimney

The Brick Industry Association explains that ivy works its shoots into gaps in the mortar and brings moisture in with them. BIA recommends cutting the vines carefully rather than pulling them away, since pulling can damage the brickwork.

BIA also suggests leaving the shoots that remain attached until they dry and shrivel, then brushing them off with a stiff fiber brush rather than using chemicals or acids.

Once the growth is off, we can see the condition of the bricks and joints underneath and explain what needs repair.

Where ivy has grown for a long time, BIA notes that joints may need repointing if the mortar cracks or crumbles as the growth comes off.

Questions worth asking before approving brick work

A clear brick repair estimate answers practical questions. How many bricks, or what area, will be replaced? What brick and mortar are proposed, and how close will the match look? What caused the damage, and is that cause part of the repair?

It should also say how loose material and debris will be handled and what protection will be in place below the chimney. Our estimates answer these in writing before you approve anything.