| Forum Home | ||||
| PC World Chat | ||||
| Thread ID: 76119 | 2007-01-21 18:09:00 | Mortar and bricks | Strommer (42) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 518042 | 2007-01-21 18:09:00 | We have an old brick chimney with a bit of the mortar between the bricks missing in a few places. The chimney is painted and since I am painting the house I will also paint the chimney. Before painting I want to put mortar to replace the gaps. I have used redimix cement for footpaths but assume that some special mix is needed for brickwork. Anyone know a good mix / brand? I don't want the mortar to fall out after a year or two. BTW I will high pressure water blast, then dig inbetween th e bricks, to remove all loose mortar. | Strommer (42) | ||
| 518043 | 2007-01-21 19:41:00 | Hi Steve. I recently filled a few gaps in the mortar of my house using Fuller's Caulk in Colour. This is an acrylic sealant which, in my case, dried looking almost like the original charcoal coloured mortar. Easy to apply with a gun. Mitre10. | Scouse (83) | ||
| 518044 | 2007-01-21 19:49:00 | One tip a builder recommeded to me is to buy a bag of Mortar, and mix it with water and some PVA glue (about 1 cup of PVA glue for a 20KG bag of mortar). The PVA helps the mortar bind to the existing surfaces, and also "plasticises" it to make it less brittle. You have to make sure that the "gaps" are clean though - thoroughly scrub them to get rid of any loose debris with a wire brush if you can. | somebody (208) | ||
| 518045 | 2007-01-21 20:06:00 | BTW I will high pressure water blast, then dig in between the bricks, to remove all loose mortar. You may find that you have minimal mortar left if you are too vigorous with the water blaster and digging in .... I removed an old (1890's) chimney here some years back, and was horrified that all the bricks just lifted off by hand. The old lime mortar filled the gaps but in no way bonded them. Easier now to understand how roof fires happen with older brick chimneys. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 518046 | 2007-01-21 20:16:00 | uh...yeah, before you touch it, lean on it and see if it sways. | Metla (12) | ||
| 518047 | 2007-01-21 20:41:00 | Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User Just noticed your sig GF. So which one (mvp.support.microsoft.com) are you? ;) |
Greg (193) | ||
| 518048 | 2007-01-22 18:57:00 | Thanks for the replies. It is a solid chimney and the bricks are not loose. But a friend removed his chimney and I was amazed to see how easy the bricks came apart. Scouse, I would go for the caulking but I think more than one tube would be required so it may be pricey so I'll compare it to a bag of mortar mix. | Strommer (42) | ||
| 518049 | 2007-01-22 19:44:00 | Caulk is around about $17-20 per tube, mortar is around $9-10 for a 20kg bag. | somebody (208) | ||
| 518050 | 2007-01-24 02:13:00 | While not necessary while doing new work, it will help to wet the brickwork down first then allow the surface to dry (SSD = saturated surface dry). Before you paint the chimney, ensure the brickwork is as dry as poss, you don't want to be trapping all that moisture inside the material, it'll only want to come out again, via you new paint or to the interior. As per Goddy's post, what type of mortar is it, if lime n sand it might be safer to pull it down. As an aside, what are your qualifications for assessing the structural integrity of the chimney? Usually you would rake out all the joints to ensure a consistent look, but as you're painting the thing, it's prob not necessary unless you have trouble matching the new mortar consistency with the old. Establish why some of the old mortar dropping out. Will the balance of the old do the same in the near future? If so, look to raking out, to firm material (which is what you should do where the mortar has, obviously to you, degraded anyway). |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 518051 | 2007-01-24 19:05:00 | 9 - 10 bucks for a 20 kg bag sounds good to me. I'll use some on the BBQ as well. One good thing about our 33 degree Wairarapa weather - things dry fast. Structural integrity? Yeeee... lets not go overboard here. Hey, I wouldn't want to back a big truck into it but it is solid and not crumbling at all. All I want to do is fill a few 1 cm deep gaps and then paint. Back to the hot weather. I had to quit painting at 1 pm the other day when it got to 31 degrees. I was in the shade but still found it exhausting. The Met Service temps are a laugh - I have two outdoor thermometers, one is a min/max digital on the shady side of the house. Often when the Met Service gives our maximum at say 26 degrees I find it to be 3 to 7 degrees higher. My sister in law up the street finds the same thing. Microclimate? The hot dry weather stuffed the paint brush up. Acrylic paint. I had a spray bottle of water and sprayed the brush every 20 - 30 minutes but even so the brush could not be washed up properly. I did not thin the paint since it went on OK, same as lower temps. Aside from cleaning the brush with a special liquid cleaner, anyone have a trick for keeping the brush from getting permanent paint on some of the bristles? |
Strommer (42) | ||
| 1 2 | |||||