![]() That modern mix was the unyielding cement the previous masons had slapped on the Rogers house joints. Instead, bricklayers adopted fast-setting masonry cement: sand and ground limestone blended together with as much as 65 percent portland cement. With the ready availability of portland cement, a material so hard and so impervious to water that it is used to plug leaks in basements, masons abandoned time-consuming lime-based mortars, which set so slowly that no more than seven courses could be done in a day. Brick became harder and more rigid, as did mortar. Unfortunately for this wall, masonry practices underwent a tectonic shift in the 1930s. Like all mortars, however, it slowly eroded, and after 60 or 70 years the weathered portion was chiseled out and replaced, a process called repointing (or pointing). The old lime-based mortar had been a perfect partner for the soft, porous brick, flexing to accommodate the brick’s slight expansion and contraction. Not the original mortar, a relatively soft mix of lime and sand, but the previous patch job, which used masonry cement. The message at the Rogers house is loud and clear: The mortar is killing it. Several weeks later, after a visit to examine the walls, Mario and his younger brother, John, arrive in their red pickup, ready to work. Anxious to find out what has gone wrong, Rogers called Mario Machnicki, a mason who specializes in fixing brick and stone walls. A dozen 3-foot-long cracks radiate from the windows on the north side, leaving the wall open to water infiltration. In some places, the brick face has begun to flake off-a sign that water is getting in, freezing and slowly turning the hard red clay into dust. Old House, Old Wallsīetween the brick, slapdash patches of gray mortar clash with the original white. With its columned portico, brick walls and ivy-covered facade, his house is the image of prewar solidity. Rick Roger’s two-story Georgian has stood for more than 80 years in the prosperous suburb of Evanston, Illinois, north of Chicago.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |