Crumbling Mortar in Brick

Another thing to watch for is crumbling mortar in brick. Older homes sometimes have mortar that cannot handle water run-off. This causes it to crumble out of the brick. This is easy to fix yourself. It just takes a little mortar. The only trick is to make sure the brick is dry before filling in the holes.



We mixed up some mortar and sand in a bowl and pushed it into the cracks with a butter knife. We were told that it is important to move the mortar deep into the hole. Filling the hole is only half the problem. It must be filled so that frost cannot get in next year.



IF you don't fill the hole in, animals, insects, and water can get into the hole and damage the brick underneath.



Here are some links to tutorials on the topic:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-do-brick-and-concrete-repairs1.htm



Here is a video: http://www.expertvillage.com/video/262_brick-mortar-repair.htm