Repairing, Restoring and Repurposing Old Decking: Tips. Ideas and Facts
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Repairing, Restoring and Repurposing Old Decking: Tips. Ideas and Facts

A deck is a beautiful outdoor asset to your home, and the right deck can make your living space seem larger. Hi, my name is Jackie, and I am a lover of all things related to the home. I enjoy decorating, repairing, restoring, and reading about ideas and even cleaning. Thanks to the success of our family business, I am able to work from home, and as I spend so much time here, I want it to look beautiful. If you want to have a beautiful home, I want to help you as well. In this blog, I am going to focus on decks in particular. I want to talk about repairing them, restoring them and reusing their old wood in new projects. If you want ideas or inspiration, I invite you to stay, take a look and enjoy these posts.

Repairing, Restoring and Repurposing Old Decking: Tips. Ideas and Facts

4 Tips for Fixing Cracked Brickwork on Your Foundation

Esperanza Arias

If your home has a brick foundation, cracks may be inevitable. You can sometimes fix them yourself. Before you do so, however, check out these tips.

1. Make Sure the Cracks Are Only Superficial

In some cases, cracks in a brick foundation are only superficial. However, in other cases, they can signal huge trouble with your foundation, and your home may even need new underpinning. Before you start doing do-it-yourself repairs on your bricks, make sure that you know the signs of structural issues.

In particular, if your basement has leaks or water damage, that may be a sign that your brick foundation needs professional repairs. In addition, if you have lots of cracks throughout the entire foundation, that may also be a sign of serious trouble. Finally, if the cracks are wider on the top than on the bottom, that is a sign that the house is settling.

2. Grab Some Supplies

If you are sure that the cracks are just superficial, it's time to gather some supplies. To make the patchwork looks professional, you need a chisel, a brick trowel and a small pointing trowel or a joint contouring tool. You also need safety glasses, and ideally, you should always work in gloves to protect your hands from the chemical burns associated with concrete mix and brick mortar.

3. Chisel Out the Broken Mortar and Remove Cracked Bricks

Once you're ready, you need to remove the rubble. Grab your chisel and gently tap it out. If there's a lot of broken mortar, you may want to use an angle grinder. However, that can remove more mortar than you need, and you should only do that if you're confident about your angle grinding skills. If there are also cracked bricks, you should try to pull or chisel those out as well.

4. Put in New Bricks and Mortar

Now, you need to put in new bricks where you have removed old ones. Make sure that you  use structural bricks rather than patio stones or decorative bricks. You may want to talk with a mason to ensure you select the right type.

Then, mix up the mortar following the directions. It should look about like the thickness of peanut butter. Use your trowel to apply the mortar. Finally, use the contouring tools to make the mortar blend with the look of the rest of the brick work.

Right away, the new mortar will look a different colour than the existing mortar. Don't worry. That's totally natural. As it dries, it will turn the same colour.

Keep in mind that cracked brickwork shouldn't generally be fixed by yourself, especially if you suspect deeper foundation problems.


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