Masonry repair and maintenance for Mobile houses

Brick holds up well, but Mobile works it hard. The city is one of the rainiest in the country, it stays hot and humid most of the year, and hurricane season runs through summer and fall. When a storm comes in off the Gulf, rain hits the walls sideways. Near the bay the air carries salt. Hard freezes are rare and short here, so ice is not the main enemy the way it is up north. Water is, along with whatever the water carries into the wall.

Brick and mortar soak up rain and then dry back out. When a wall cannot dry, or water keeps finding the same way in, the joints go soft and sandy, brick faces start to let go, and white salts come out on the surface. Shaded walls stay damp and grow mildew and green growth. Ground that stays wet shifts under the house. All of that is slow, and on most houses it shows first on the side that takes the weather and in the bottom few courses.

Mobile has brick houses from every era. Downtown and in the older neighborhoods like Oakleigh, Old Dauphin Way, Church Street East, the De Tonti Square area, Midtown and Ashland Place, a lot of the brick is old and soft and was laid in lime mortar. Raised cottages sit up on brick piers. Brick chimneys run up the outside wall. Downtown, iron balconies hang off old brick fronts.

Out in Spring Hill and West Mobile, most brick houses are newer. The brick there is usually veneer: one layer of brick tied to a wood frame wall and sitting on a ledge along the edge of a concrete slab. Along the bottom course are small open joints called weep holes that let water drain out from behind the brick.

The two need different things. Old soft brick needs a mortar that is softer than the brick. Veneer needs its weep holes left open. Hard cement mortar on old brick and weep holes packed shut on veneer are two common mistakes on Mobile houses.

Masonry repair and maintenance is the plain name for what Donald does. Most of it falls into four kinds of work, and each one has its own page with more detail.

• Brick repair: spalled, cracked, loose and missing brick taken out and replaced, and the cause tracked down
• Tuckpointing: worn and sandy mortar joints cut out and packed with new mortar
• Chimney repair: loose brick, open joints, cracked crowns and leaks on brick chimneys
• Foundation repair: cracks, loose brick and washed out mortar in brick and block foundations

Masonry does not ask for much in a normal year. But a few things around a house decide how long brick and mortar last in a place as wet as Mobile. Gutters that overflow and downspouts that empty at the foot of a wall soak the same brick every time it rains. Sprinklers aimed at the house do it on dry days too. Dirt and mulch heaped over the bottom course of a veneer wall cover the weep holes and hold water against the brick.

Then there are the joints. Mortar is meant to wear out before the brick does, and it is a lot easier to replace. Repointing joints while they are only worn, before the brick around them starts to loosen, keeps a small job from growing into a bigger one.

Walk around the house once or twice a year, and again after a big storm. Look at the chimney from the yard, the corners of the house, the brick under the windows, and the low courses where rain splashes back off the ground.

Hurricane season brings rain driven hard enough to find every open joint, and limbs that come down on chimneys and walls. After a storm, walk the house from the ground and take photos of anything that looks new. Some of it will be masonry work. Some of it will need a roofer or a tree service first.

The big live oaks that shade so much of Mobile are part of this too. Their roots run near foundations and walks, and in a dry spell they pull a lot of water out of the soil by the house. Mobile ground is a mix of clay and sand that swells, shrinks and washes with the water. When it moves, brick cracks, often in a stair step line along the joints.

Donald repairs the masonry. If the cracking points to the house itself still moving, some jobs call for a structural engineer or a foundation company, and Donald will tell you that plainly.

Brick on an older Mobile house does not stop at the walls. There are brick piers under raised floors, brick steps and porches, garden walls holding back a slope, and concrete walks and slabs. Some people want a section of brick rebuilt, or new brick added to match on an addition. Those are separate questions from the four jobs above. Ask Donald about any of them when you send photos.

A good part of older Mobile sits inside local historic districts. If your house is in one, work that changes the outside may need review first. Ask the City of Mobile what applies to your house before work starts. And if you are not sure whether the house is in a district, the city can tell you that too.

Text Donald a wide photo of the wall or chimney, a close one of the worst spot, and what part of Mobile you are in. He looks at the brick, the mortar and whatever is letting water in, and tells you what it needs and what it does not. You know what is being done before it starts. Call or text (251) 305-5966.