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Cracked brickwork repair or Concrete Block

Unless there’s a serious structural problem, wide, top-to-bottom cracks in brick or concrete-block walls are easy to fill. And there’s no need to be obsessed with perfection. Work through the broken bricks instead of trying to replace them.

Tools needed to cracked brickwork repair : brick pointing london

• safety goggles
• cold chisel
• sledgehammer
• brick chisel
• wire brush
• garden hose
• mixing bucket and stir stick
• small sharp trowel
• wide board to cover crack
• 2 × 4 prop
• large funnel
• rubber tubing to fit over funnel end
• mortar jointer or thin metal rod
• paintbrush

Materials needed to cracked brickwork repair: repointing london

• mortar mix
• Portland cement
• hydrated lime
• sand
• scrap corrugated cardboard
• mortar coloring
• duct tape
• exterior paint or cement paint
• solvent for paint

Time: about 3 to 4 hours for cleaning and initial filling; additional time depending on extent of damage

Wearing safety goggles, begin by cleaning all crumbling brick and mortar from the cracked brickwork with a cold chisel and sledgehammer. Where the cracked brickwork runs through a brick or a concrete block, use a brick chisel, angled into the cracked brickwork, to widen and undercut the break. Enlarge the crack to a consistent width and clean the inside of the crack to its full depth, or as far in as you can reach. Wire-brush the crack, inside and out, to remove debris, then flush it thoroughly with water from a garden hose.

Cracked brickwork that affect only a single layer of brick can be filled with mortar. Mix a small amount of mortar according to the directions on the package. Spread a little mortar on a scrap of corrugated cardboard, where it will dry quickly and reveal its true color. Add mortar coloring to the mortar as necessary to match the old mortar, experimenting with the cardboard as you add coloring. When the dried test batch matches the old mortar, mix enough mortar to fill the crack and add coloring in the tested proportion.

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Spray the cracked brickwork thoroughly with the garden hose. Fill the crack with mortar using a small, sharp trowel to force the mortar into the full depth of the crack. Treat the crack as one long joint, filling cleaned-out joints and the gaps in cracked brickwork or concrete block evenly all along the cracked brickwork repair.
When the cracked brickwork repair is solidly packed with mortar, finish the surface with a jointer and the trowel. Match the old joints where the cracked brickwork follows a joint: trowel the mortar to match the surface where the mended surface is block or brick. Let the crack cure thoroughly for at least 1 week. Spray the patched area lightly with the garden hose several times a day during the curing period.

When the cracked brickwork is very wide and deep, fill it with a thin grout mixture. Wearing safety goggles, chisel out, wire-brush, and flush the crack with water to clean it thoroughly. Mix a small amount of filler, using 1 part Portland cement,1 part hydrated lime, and 6 parts sand. Mix the dry materials and add water slowly to form a thin, easily pourable grout. Add mortar coloring, testing the mixture on a scrap of corrugated cardboard, to match the color of the old mortar; then mix a bucketful of grout in the same proportions.

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Working quickly, spray the inside of the crack lightly to dampen it. Mask the lower third of the crack with duct tape set flat over the opening. Set a wide board flat against the wall to hold the tape in place, and wedge it firmly upright with a 2 × 4.

Use a wide-mouthed funnel and a length of rubber tubing to fill the crack; you’ll need a helper for this. Push one end of the tubing over the narrow end of the funnel and set the open end into the crack. Hold the end of the tubing at least halfway into the crack and as near the bottom as you can reach over the board wedged against the wall. Pour grout slowly into the funnel to fill the bottom of the crack. Then remove the tubing from the crack. Rinse the funnel, the tubing, and the bucket thoroughly.

Let the partially filled crack set for about 1 day. Then remove the board and the duct tape from the cracked brickwork. Use a mortar jointer — or thin metal rod bent to form a handle — and a trowel to finish the cracked brickwork, matching both joint and brick or concrete block textures. Then fill the crack further.

Mix a bucketful of grout in the same proportions as before. Working quickly, spray the crack lightly with a garden hose. Mask the cracked brickwork with duct tape and wedge the board back into place against the wall. Using the wide-mouthed funnel, pour the grout into the crack as before. Let it dry for 1 day and remove the mask; finish the grout to match joints and brick or block.

Repeat the filling and finishing process daily, section by section, until the entire crack has been filled. Be sure to mix and color the grout in the same proportion each time. Let the grout cure thoroughly for at least a week after the final application of grout. Spray the patched area lightly with the garden hose several times a day during the curing period.
Finish either mortar-filled or grout-filled cracks by painting the patch to match the surrounding wall. For a painted wall, touch up the newly filled and cured crack with the same exterior paint used on the wall. To hide the crack in a brick wall, use cement paint the same color as the bricks. Thin the paint and apply it carefully to the crack where it passes through bricks; repeat as necessary until the color is correct.

Continue to the next page to put your concrete skills to work on potholes in your driveway.

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Specification of ‘Bricks Walls’

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Brick walls are probably the most common building elements in construction of a house in India. These walls form basic units for creating rooms that make up a house. The walls besides being space dividers are also structural elements that transfer the load of the roof to the ground. Brick walls are constructed on strip spread or raft foundations that support the walls. The walls are constructed using bricks and mortar. These can also be constructed with various structural qualities and thicknesses.

Brickwork (pointing up brickwork)

Brick walls are constructed by joining bricks with cement mortar in arrangements called English Bond, Flemish Bond or Rat Trap Bond. These bonds give different external appearances to the wall. All construction systems of brick walls are such devised that vertical cross joints in any layers are staggered. The bricks thus bonded form a solid mass that does not split when the wall is loaded with live loads and dead loads.

Classification of BrickWork

The brickwork specification work according to the quality of brick is following.

• First class brickwork
• Second class brickwork
• Third class brickwork

First Class BrickWork

First class brick work is made by using first class bricks and cement mortar. This brick work is used for load bearing walls. It is made in rich mortar in which the cement and sand ratio is from 1:3 to 1: 6.

First class bricks are identified by their uniform color and a ringing sound when struck. The bricks are equal in size and have even edges and surfaces. These bricks do not chip and don’t have any cracks. First class bricks do not absorb water more than 1/6 of their weight. There is no salty residue when the bricks are dry. First class bricks have a minimum crushing strength of 105.kg. Per sq. cm

Bricks of first class quality

Second Class BrickWork

Second class bricks work is made by using second class bricks and cement mortar. These bricks also have the property of first class bricks but are not very regular or even in shape. These bricks should not be used for load bearing walls for more than two storey buildings. Second class bricks have minimum crushing strength 70.kg per sq. meter.

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Second class quality of bricks

Third Class BrickWork

This type of brickwork is made by using third class bricks and cement mortar or mud mortar. Third class brickwork is not made in any Govt. work. Generally this type of brick work is made for temporary work in private sector.

Mortar

Mortar is a mix used to bind brick, stone etc to each other.
It can thus be seen as a binding material that bonds bricks, stones to make a wall or for cladding purpose. Normally cement mortar is used in brickwork in present day construction though lime mortar can also be used but it requires superior craftsmanship and is hence infrequently used.

Cement Mortar

Cement mortar is a mix of cement and sand with water. The cement is binding material which requires sand as a filler material. This cement mortar mix in wet state is plastic and binds two materials when it dries. Mortar is generally defined as 1:2 or 1:3 or 1:7 etc. This means that one part of cement is mixed with 2, 3 or 7 parts of sand.

Precaution for mixing cement mortar

The following steps should be taken carefully while mixing materials for cement mortar.

• The mix should be made on a dry, clean, flat surface.
• The mix should be as per specifications.
• The mix should be by volume.
• The quantity of water should be such that the mix can be easily spread over bricks or applied on a vertical surface. Water more then required quantity may spoil the mix and it can reduce the strength of masonry.
• The mix should be used within half an hour of its preparation.

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Brick Wall Foundations

Brick wall foundations are normally made as strip foundations.
These are continuous along the length of wall and hence called as strip foundations. These form structural components of construction system by which the load of whole building is transferred to the ground.
Foundations are made in dug out trenches so that a hard stable surface on which the building is supported can be obtained because the top surface of the ground normally does not have load bearing capacity to take the load of the building. The other reason is that foundations can by this method be hidden from view. The architect needs to provide a foundation plan that indicates exactly where the foundation trenches are to be dug.

The foundation trenches are dug after being marked on center line principle on the site according to architect’s drawings. The size of trench varies with the thickness of walls and the load bearing capacity of the soil. The base of dug trench is rammed to solidify the surface. On rammed surface a layer of cement concrete is laid. This is normally 6 to 8 inches thick. This base concrete layer needs to be cured for it attains its expected strength. Base concrete layers or courses of bricks are laid to create a stepped base that would help in distributing the load over a larger surface of the foundation.

Precautions during construction of brick wall foundations

• The marking of foundations must be absolutely accurate as the location of walls depends on these markings.
• The trenches should not be dug in rainy season. The bricks, mortar mix and cement concrete mix should be as per specifications.
• The width and depth of the trenches depends on loading and soil conditions. As the foundation is an expanded base to distribute the load coming on it over a large area on ground. The width of the wall foundation depends on whether the wall is a load bearing wall, a non load bearing wall, a partition wall or a toe wall.

Load Bearing Walls

The walls that support beams and roof slabs.

• These walls take the load of super structure and transmit it to the ground through foundation.
• These can also serve the purpose of dividing the space into required rooms etc.
• These are also accommodating door and windows where required.
• These are of 9” or more thickness.
• Such walls are made in first class bricks and rich mortar.

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Non Load Bearing Walls

• These walls serve the purpose of dividing the space into required rooms etc.
• These are also accommodating door and windows where required.
• These can be made into thin sections to save the space.
• Non load bearing walls are only partition having no load of super structure so these can be easily changed whenever required to change the space of the room.
• These walls are made 3 inches, 4.5 inches and 9 inches thick as per the requirement of the site.

Super Structure:

The word super structure used in construction work means/denotes following.

• Brick work from DPC level to the roof level/slab level.
• If columns provided in drawings then RCC columns to be laid.
• Rain water pipe is to be embedded in walls.
• Fixing doors, windows and ventilators frames in walls.
• RCC (Reinforced Beam & slab for roof) including M S Steel bars according to the designs.
• Tile terracing lay with brick tiles on the top of the roof slab.
• Fixing doors and windows shutters.
• Fixing cupboard in the rooms and Kitchen etc.
• Fixing iron grills for safety of the house.
• Providing cement plaster on ceiling and walls.
• Laying floors including base coat.

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