Local chimney masonry repair for American Beach homes

A cured sample before the color is set

Wet mortar looks darker than it will once it cures, so judging a color match from the mixing tub leads to repairs that stand out. Sand, cement and pigment each pull the shade one way or another. Before a large repair, a trial batch is pressed into a test joint or onto a board and left to harden beside the brick.

Once dry, it is compared in daylight against the old joints from a few steps back, as the wall is normally seen, and the recipe is adjusted if needed. The approved proportions are written down, so every batch mixed after that matches the one you saw.

Water on the racked shoulders

As a chimney narrows, the brick is racked in steps, and each step is a small ledge exposed to rain. BIA's chimney note prefers solid brick laid on a setting bed over those steps. Where a mortar wash is used instead, it asks for the wash to fill each step individually rather than bridge over the whole rack in one sloped layer. A bridged wash cracks away from the brick and hides a void where water collects.

When we repair a shoulder, the finish goes back in the form BIA describes, sloped so water leaves each step. The top of each step is also checked for loose units before it is covered.

No raw muriatic acid on the finished wall

Mortar smeared on brick faces during repair has to come off, and what it comes off with can do more harm than the smear. The Brick Industry Association's stain note lists straight hydrochloric acid, the product sold as muriatic, and hydrofluoric acid among the causes of white silicate scum and of yellow or green vanadium stains on pale brick. Neither stain rinses away. So smears are brushed off with clean water while the mortar is still green, within the same working day. If a cleaner is needed after that, it is a product the brick maker's guidance allows, tried on a hidden spot first and rinsed off thoroughly.