It rained hard now you have a damaged brick wall and you may be wondering how to replace a water damaged brick wall. Brick walls are considered to be one of the best designs for houses.
Homeowners have always been very fond of brick designs as it gives a sense of stability and creates a strong foundation for most houses. However, due to natural phenomena such as earthquakes, brick walls can get damaged to the point that they may need to be replaced to avoid causing bigger problems to the homeowners.
Some of these problems can be caused by construction issues, if the procedure on making the brick walls was done in a weak manner or approach, these can break and lead to great damage.
How To Know If Your Brick Wall Has Water Damage
Since water damage can be the main cause behind your brick walls, you can determine if there is damage on your brick wall if water leaks are seen on the bricks. Start by turning off all sources of water to find the location of the leak damage.
You also have to ensure that the brick-placing process was done correctly, as water may leak through the brick walls. These wrong constructions are called efflorescence.
Due to this, water gets trapped inside the wall cavity causing water to leak. Efflorescence can get into severe cases wherein the wall would get saturated with water, if the draining pipe is clogged, water would end up going through the face of the bricks.
If your house was largely damaged, check out how to recognize water damaged hardwood floors as your guide.
How Long Do Brick Walls Normally Last
Brick structures can last for many years as long as it was installed and maintained properly since brick production has been around from the 19th to the first half of the 20th century.
It seems that brick walls have always been part of the household since the old times for their stability and strength, it keeps houses strong and requires less maintenance.
Moreover, keeping your brick walls free from damage of efflorescence and water leaks can last for even longer. To ensure the stability and strength of your brick walls, make sure to check them after heavy rain or any natural phenomenon, to avoid any further damage.
If a slight crack has been seen on your brick walls, get them checked and replaced with a new one to preserve the quality of the rest of the bricks
Steps On How To Replace Your Water Damage Brick
Step #1. Prepare your replacement brick
Get a small bucket and fill it with water. Then place the replacement brick in the bucket, and make sure it is fully submerged in water.
This is done in order for the surrounding bricks to avoid the moisture from being sucked by the mortar too quickly. If this happens, then the bricks may become loose because the mortar will not be able to stick along with the bricks.
Step #2. Drill
Because drilling jobs may cause injury or any hazardous scenarios, make sure you gear yourself with goggles. As chiseling and drilling can cause broken fragments to fly along with any direction which can cause eye damage.
Drill out the old mortar located at the outer part of the brick. To save the hammering which will be done, later on, make sure that the holes are bunched up as close as you can.
You can also use an angle grinder to cut away the mortar.
Step #3. Remove old brick
Take a hammer and bolster (2-3 inches) if the brick is to be removed in one piece, then knock the mortar surrounding the brick by doing it first on the sides, then from the bottom to top. Replace your bolster with a plugging chisel if you need to go into tighter areas.
If you can authenticate that the existing mortar is lime-based and slightly softer than non-lime mortars, you can use a masonry saw or hacksaw blade so you can cut along the mortar line.
The brick should be loose once the mortar has been removed, you can slightly wiggle it around to make sure it is fully loosened. start by jiggling it from side to side then pull forward so it would come out.
Step #4. Lay the mortar
For you to start layering the mortar, you have to soak all the brick faces inside the hole. You can use a rose sprayer or a paintbrush dipped in water.
Then mix up a batch of mortar, inconsistency of 1:5:2 (1 cement to 5 soft sand to 2 lime) . You can go for a 5:1 mix if you’re not using lime.
Now you can lay a decent bed of mortar to the base of the hole using a pointing trowel. Make sure to cover the entire top of the brick at the base of the hole with a decent cover.
Step #5. Apply mortar to the brick
Now take the brick and apply a covering on the top of it, and make sure it is fully covered. Then push it into the hole, and slightly wiggle it from side to side to make sure it gets in the right place.
Do not force the brick in to avoid messing up the mortar from the bed. Once placed, you can now position it and push it at the front along with the rest of the wall.
Use a piece of wood across the faces of the other bricks to check the process
Step #6. Fill all gaps
In the final job, fill all the sides of the brick with a mortar. Force the mortar into the gaps as much as possible to be sure that they are full.
Grab a mix from your pointing trowel; using the pointed end-side, push the mortar into the gap. Constantly repeat the process until you are not able to force anymore in.
Follow the process properly to get the work all done.
If your windowsill has been damaged along with your wall, here is our how to repair water damaged indoor windowsill for your guidance.
Conclusion
A brick replacement is pretty straightforward work that requires a big amount of time and effort so you can get the work done. Remember that you cannot remove 2 bricks at once. If so, replace 2 and leave it for cure and correction for a week before tackling any more.
Now you know the process on how to replace a water damaged brick wall.