I threw a lot of loose brick scraps around. And after having reached rock solid layers of brick, I was ready to test my masonry skills again.
I learned early on in the project that the combination of a 100+ year old building and Chicago common brick requires not just any mortar, but a special kind of mortar – the Type O kind.
The mortar joints in these masonry walls are meant to be the sacrificial layers – because they are easy to repair through tuck pointing. Replacing damaged bricks is much more involved and labor intensive. To prevent brick damage or spalling, and to assure a functioning sacrificial joint, the mortar needs to be softer than the brick. That is where the Type O comes in handy, if used in combination with our common brick.
For more details and rationales on the Type O mortar, read my earlier post: Bricks and mortar.
To make the mortar work and have it properly cure, I had to prevent it from drying out. The common brick is a very effective sponge, and can suck the moisture out of mortar within a few minutes – unless the common brick is already wet.
Before I could slap any mortar onto the bricks, I needed to spray down the existing masonry wall and soak the replacement bricks in a bucket of water. And believe me, one quick spray or one quick dunk won’t do it. Common brick is a sponge, and it needs wetting like a sponge.
Once the tedious due diligence is out the way, I was ready to slap mortar on the bricks and start rebuilding the top of our south wall, so that we could get to building the roof level of our new back porch.
I am glad that the time lapse doesn’t provide any close-up view, because my masonry skills are OK yet still basic. In other words, my work is not that purdy! Do I care? No! Not as long as the work is sturdy. That part of the wall will be covered with a big old ledger anyways.