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Last Updated: Monday, May 10th, 2010, Created: Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Weather Restrictions: Brick Mortar

. WEATHER & RENOVATION is a joint project of: CTV.ca and JonEakes.com designed to help you plan home improvement projects around weather restrictions. If you have just been checking the weather for your project on the CTV web site -- welcome to JonEakes.com where you will find all the details for your home improvements. If you started here and are looking for weather restrictions related to home improvements, follow this link to CTV.ca where you can get your local weather forecast together with weather restrictions for specific products  on the bottom of the page.

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It is often said that brick or block mortar is not designed to hold bricks together, but to keep them apart. In fact it is not a real good "glue" and it is purposefully made softer than the materials it separates. That is because it is considered sacrificial with respect to building movement. If things shift, something is going to crack, so it is planned ahead of time that the mortar will crack before the bricks or blocks crack. Mortar is easier to repair -- or "repoint" -- than replacing bricks or blocks. That is why cracks in a brick wall show up as a zigzag line flowing between the bricks. One of the biggest errors someone can make is to use a rigid mix, like a strong cement mix, to replace mortar for when the building shifts again, the bricks will crack rather than the mortar and you are in for major repairs. Another critical thing to keep in mind if you are repointing bricks is that mortar does not stick to mortar, it sticks to bricks. So if you simply apply a thin layer of mortar over a crack, it will not stay. You have to remove the old mortar to a depth at least as deep as the joint is wide, and then force the new mortar firmly into that space so that it is pushed up against the two bricks. Then it will stay at least until the building shifts again. Mortar failures are often related to not adjusting to weather conditions when working with the mortar. For details check out WORKING WITH MORTAR IN HOT & COLD WEATHER. For lots more information look up the keyword MORTAR in the database. You may want to compare using regular mortar to a small job quick fix by checking out Weather Restrictions: LATEX MORTAR PATCH MIX IN A TUBE.

Keywords: Blocks, Brick, Cracks, Freezing, Frost, Joints, Mortar, Movement, Products, Renovation, Repair, Repointing, Techniques, Walls, Weather

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