Replies

1. 
   popawheelie | Sep 11, 2008 09:21pm | #1

   Usually flaking of brick is because there is or was to much water/moisture inside the brick.

   The bottom row of your brick wall shouldn't be in the dirt. If it is the dirt can hold moisture and wick it up into the brick.

   Is dirt/landscaping around your house to high? Does it slope away from the house?

   Those two things are a good place to start. Basically, you want to keep your house and foundation as dry as possible. A lot of people keep the house dry but overlook the foundation.

1. 
   spunki | Sep 12, 2008 12:14am | #2

   The bottom row of your brick wall shouldn't be in the dirt. If it is the dirt can hold moisture and wick it up into the brick.  The dirt next to the brick is covered with plastic and rock to keep the weeds from growing.  It does slope away from the house. 

   Now, how do I keep the brick from flaking any more? 

    

1. 
   timkline | Sep 12, 2008 01:35am | #3

   Now, how do I keep the brick from flaking any more? 

   just what pw told you.

   keep the bricks from touching the dirt.  the dirt holds water and acts like a sponge. your bricks are porous and they suck water from the dirt like sponges.

   your comment about the dirt being covered with plastic has no bearing here.

   yes, it is good that you have positive slope away from the house, but, it sounds like the dirt is too high where it touches the bricks.

   if this is a brick veneer and there is wood framing behind the bricks, the bricks can and will wick water into the wall and can rot your wall framing.

    carpenter in transition

1. 
   john_carroll | Sep 12, 2008 02:19am | #4

   "keep the bricks from touching the dirt"

   Huh? My house, built in 1949, has a brick foundation--as do all the houses in my neighborhood.

   Brick and block foundations are still very common here in North Carolina.

   I've built many brick and block foundations, brick retaining walls, brick walks, exterior brick stairs and brick patios. All of them were built in contact with the ground.

    

1. 
   popawheelie | Sep 12, 2008 03:04am | #5

   Let's start over.

   Bricks don't just have parts flake off. Something is making it flake off.

   From what I've seen and heard exclusively is that moisture is in the brick at a level it isn't supposed to be at.

   On top of that. If there are high levels of moisture in the brick and it freezes, the expansion of the water in the brick pops off parts of the brick.

   Most people first think of sealing the brick on the outside but this makes it worse because any moisture in the brick is trapped by the sealer.

   This can lead to much more rapid deterioration of the brick and surrounding areas.

   I started with the most likely cause of your problem without explaining enough. A lot of the time home owners have dirt, rocks, plants, whatever, that are holding moisture against the brick at a level above the weep screed or weep row.

   Bricks are supposed to breath a bit and don't seal out water completely. If you get a driving rain it can soak the brick wall really well. The water that gets into the brick and mortar is supposed to drain out the bottom of the brick wall.

   Sometimes there is holes in the bottom row. Sometimes there is small ropes sticking out. The best way is a weep screed.

   I didn't mean to frustrate you with my answer but you shouldn't seal the brick with anything. You need to look at the cause of this problem.

   Google "brick weep screed pictures" and you will get an idea of how many different types there are and how they work. Or wikipedia "brick weep screed".

   Edited 9/11/2008 8:08 pm ET by popawheelie

2. 
   McSameVsOblabla | Sep 12, 2008 03:17am | #6

   I've also found chunks of calcium in bricks. This will cause spalling also.
   Salt and other camicals will sometimes cause this problem.
   Water generally has to freeze to do what your talking about.

   Edited 9/11/2008 8:18 pm ET by McSameVsOblabla

3. 
   popawheelie | Sep 12, 2008 03:57am | #7

   I'm no expert on bricks. I was just trying to help out. I noticed it was the original posters first post so I started with the most typical cause.

   I think I missed the 3 feet from the ground part. Still, there has to be something pushing off the brick.  

   Edited 9/11/2008 9:02 pm ET by popawheelie

4. 
   john_carroll | Sep 12, 2008 06:30am | #8

   There are several different kinds of brick. Many work fine in contact with the ground.

   I live in central North Carolina. We get about 45-in. of rain a year and temperatures in the winter sometimes dip into the single digits. In front of my house, the curb is made of granite and the gutter is made of hard-burned bricks, often called sewer bricks. The bricks often get saturated and freeze in the winter; yet, they don't spall. These bricks have served well in this punishing environment for over a half-century.

   Modern bricks are graded under ASTM C62, Standard Specification for Building Brick. Grade SW (Severe Weathering) should be used where there is the possibility of freezing when the brick is permeated with water. These bricks are good for steps and other horizontal applications. I built the front and back steps of my mother's house in 1980 in Maryland with a hard face brick and there has been no spalling. These stairs, which are four and five risers high, have been covered in snow and subjected to hard freezes many times.

   Grade MW (Moderate Weathering) should be used for vertical applications only in freeze/thaw locations.

   Generalizations about bricks are bound to be inaccurate. Paver bricks can withstand moisture and freezing temperatures; but they wouldn't work well in a fireplace. Fire bricks can withstand the high temperatures of a fire but would fall apart in a freeze/thaw environment.

   The cause of the spalling of the original poster's brick could be freeze/thaw if he used the wrong brick in a hard freeze area. He hasn't mentioned where the house is located.

   It could also be mortar that is too hard for the brick. Or it could simply be a few edges that were cracked when laid, then chipped off later. There are allowable rates of chippage for bricks; they are rarely expected to be perfect.

   Any sealant would be a mistake, in my opinion.

5. 
   popawheelie | Sep 12, 2008 06:39am | #9

   Thanks mudslinger.