For questions generally relating to the artificial stone-like building material typically called "brick", and also related materials like "cinder block" and natural stone blocks.
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52 views
Where can one sell old left-over bricks? [closed]
Having had a bunch of building works done, I'm now left with a significant pile of house bricks, circa 1930s age.
Is there a market for selling this sort of surplus?
(I live in London, UK, so ...
4
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2answers
105 views
Are there any advantages to using higher priced sealers?
I want to use a water based sealer on my pavers to bring out the color and also for some resistance against dirt and fading. I went to the store and saw sealers varying in price from about $11 per ...
7
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5answers
3k views
How do I remove moss from an outdoor brick walkway?
I've got a brick walkway that has parts that are in shade most of the day. Our winters are wet and cloudy and during these times it's not uncommon for the shady parts of the walkway to grow a fair ...
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1answer
85 views
What can I put on these bricks that are sticking up to get them flush again?
The house I just moved into has bricks laid in a pattern of stright columns the bricks are sitting tight but 1 inch is sticking up. Everyone stubs their toe on them. The area is about 7 feet long and ...
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1answer
159 views
How do I determine the correct rise of a step for a concrete footing on a slope?
Going to be building a retaining wall in the front yard on a slope. I'm going to be using King size residential bricks to make a 2 wythe wall. Because of the slope I'll need to have 3-4 steps in the ...
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1answer
92 views
What is the sheathing underneath my brick exterior walls?
I am trying to figure out what is inside of my exterior plaster wall that the brick is attached to. The house was built in 1946, has no insulation in the walls, and (oddly enough to me), has drywall ...
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1answer
78 views
How can I block off a doorway with studwork on a brick wall?
I'm blocking up a doorway in a brick wall. I've decided to block it up using a stud wall as that should be a bit easier than bricking it up.
I know that the bricks are 11cm depth plus approx 2cm ...
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1answer
196 views
Can oscillating multi-tools be used for fitting pattress boxes
I have a bunch of pattress boxes to fit for light switches and plug sockets and was wondering if my oscillating multi-tool could be of any use.
I have a Bosch PMF 180 E Multi. Can this be used to cut ...
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2answers
201 views
How to fix broken brick staircase?
Short form question: Replacing bricks of a brick stair-case (leading to house), what kind of concrete to use?
Full story:
The staircase leading to my house (from outside) had some broken bricks. The ...
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1answer
351 views
Can I install a (probably ductless) range hood against brick?
I'm thinking about making an offer on a 1930's house that needs a few improvements. The gas stove/range isn't situated against an exterior wall. Rather, it's placed against the back side of the brick ...
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1answer
119 views
What type of mortar should I use?
I'm going to replace these cracked bricks on the front of my home(see pic). What type of mortar should I use? Type S, N, or M? Is there a way to determine the type of mortar that was used when the ...
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2answers
593 views
How can I finish and seal an interior exposed brick wall?
I have exposed a 100+ yr old brick wall inside, tuckpointed, cleaned with cup brushes on a grinder, and Sureklean 600. I don't have a picture right now but it looks beautiful.
Two questions:
I ...
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1answer
218 views
Should we cover weep holes with wire mesh?
We just bought our first home and we had advice some friends that we should cover the weep holes with wire mesh, to prevent bugs and other things from going inside. Is that a good idea? Please advise.
...
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2answers
203 views
Is the back section of this house salvageable or should it be knocked down?
My grandfather's house is getting to be in bad shape after years of neglect and more so the back section of the house is falling apart. Now the back section of the house, if I remember correctly, was ...
3
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1answer
163 views
How do I darken new mortar in a brick wall to match the older mortar?
I had some bricks replaced. Unfortunately, the mortar is really light. How do I stain it a darker gray, so that it matches the original mortar? Is there a product that I can buy at a big box store?
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3answers
629 views
How do I cut a brick fireplace hearth to allow for a laminate flooring expansion gap?
I am attempting to cut a small piece out of the brick fireplace (already in place) to allow for the expansion of the floating laminate flooring that I am installing. I don’t want to just leave the ...
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2answers
286 views
Can I change the color of the mortar in my brick wall?
We recently built our home and the mortar color between the bricks is dark gray, we did not pay attention to it and because of that the brick face is looking duller due to the standard gray mortar.
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1answer
270 views
How can I resheathe behind brick fascia without removing the brick?
The original builders of my house used a material called "Aluma Sheath", also known as Dennyboard, to sheathe my house. Dennyboard is a radiant coating on two sides of a 1/8 sheet of a fiberous ...
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2answers
2k views
What's behind the hard plaster walls?
Most of the walls in the old part of my house are plaster. Hard, nasty, amazingly solid plaster. While this is nice in some areas, there's others that it's rather annoying -- such as on the stairs ...
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0answers
276 views
Cost of Brick Chimney Repair [closed]
I've got some cracked and spauld brick near the top of my chimney. The chimney mason said that it will cost $950 to replace 20 bricks. Is this a reasonable price? I live in Maryland between DC and ...
5
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2answers
3k views
How can I cut through brick to add a window?
I'm redoing a bathroom and would like to add a window (36x12) in the shower. This involves cutting through brick. A contractor I spoke with said he could cut it with a angle grinder (diamond blade?), ...
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2answers
52 views
How to fix pitched floors in a brick building
I'm looking at a property the was built in the lat 1800s. It's a 3 level brick building with two other building of similar stature on each side. I too a quick look at the second floor, and it pitches ...
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2answers
628 views
How much weight can single-track shelving mounted on brick wall hold?
I'm looking at attaching shelves to a brick wall using single-track metal strips with adjustable brackets. The metal strips will be 78 inches long and I'm planning on using pine shelves 47 x 12 x 3/4 ...
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3answers
2k views
How should I apply brick to an interior wall?
I don't want to use veneer, I want to use real brick. Is it as easy as using tie-ins to the studs and setting the brick as one would normally?
The existing wall is drywall, So I was thinking of ...
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3answers
2k views
What's the best way to remove a wall plug?
I use wall plugs a lot for putting screws into brick walls.
It's easy to get the screw out when you want to remove them and usually you can loosen the screw a bit and pull and then both the wall plug ...
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2answers
184 views
Are these brick walls properly constructed?
I'm looking into buying an apartment and I'm visiting some locations. During one of my visits I saw this exterior wall of a future apartment building:
I'm not an expert but it does not look good ...
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2answers
758 views
How to fill gap between brick and drywall?
Where my ceiling drywall meets a brick wall there is a gap.
This is smaller at the brick itself (maybe 3/16") and then larger where the mortar is struck.
This seems too large to fill with ...
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votes
6answers
4k views
How can I add/alter wiring inside single-brick walls?
Our house is full-brick. Double-brick on the exterior walls and single-brick for every internal wall. It was built in 1979 (I guess they liked to do things properly then).
We've only ever had the ...
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votes
2answers
865 views
What type of paint should be used to paint a brick fireplace?
The brick color is hideous. Additionally there are some missing bricks that will be replaced first and would be hard to match.
Is there a particular type of paint that should be used on brick?
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2answers
573 views
Should I fill eroded mortar in exterior brick?
There's a few bricks around my house about 40cm up from ground level where the vertical mortar between the bricks has completely fallen out / eroded away.
In a few spots, there's insects going into ...
4
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1answer
132 views
How do I match this brick?
I am trying to find a good match for some 1930 bricks (North West England). Any ideals on makes and model of bricks that will match well.
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1answer
145 views
How much should brick “give” when pushing against it?
My wife and I are having a home built by a local contractor. The house is wood framed construction with a brick exterior. The home is nearly complete -- just interior trim and paint work remains.
...
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2answers
303 views
How can I enlarge a hole in a brick wall without drilling?
I currently have a small hole in my brick wall that is bringing a cable for my satellite dish into my house.
I now want to install outdoor speakers in my backyard and I would like to feed the speaker ...
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1answer
558 views
What type of wood should I use as an outdoor table top for a BBQ?
I am going to build a brick BBQ similar to something like the below BBQ picture.
The position will be against the house and will get wet from rain. I only plan to cover the BBQ.
Would I be ok to ...
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2answers
233 views
How to build a brick wall on the front of a CMU retaining wall?
My retaining wall is made of two parallel "walls". One is made of 16x8x12 Concrete Masonry Units and the other will be 8x4x2 bricks. The CMUs are to have mass to hold the hill, while 8x4x2 are to be ...
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2answers
699 views
How do I remove construction glue from brick?
I just removed glued-on paneling from an interior brick wall. Now, I have the task of removing the glue from said brick. What is the best method of doing so? I know there's no getting around the use ...
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1answer
201 views
Coordinating colors of brick and roof [closed]
What colour siding, troughs, chingles, & soffit to match with existing white garage and a light colour brown brick?????? We are changing them due to water leakage. We have know idea what to Make ...
3
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1answer
372 views
How can I build a porch enclosure?
I'm looking to take on this project myself, I want to enclose my porch. It's roughly 2x5 metres, and 8 feet high and is part of a semi detached where the porch continues on the other side to my ...
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2answers
2k views
Should I replace old wooden siding with brick?
I'll say first, that this isn't a question about DIY, but more about the idea and whether we should go through with it.
We bought our first house last year, and in the Spring this year, we are ...
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1answer
551 views
How do I remove mortar from bricks so I can re-use them?
I have about 500 bricks to cleanup so I can reuse them, the mortar is old and the bricks are soft clay.
What is the best way to remove the mortar and how much time should I allow?
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3answers
281 views
Do Old Houses Have a Pre-determined Lifespan?
Taking into consideration the building supplies that were available in that time period for that particular geographic area (say, a major metropolitan city in the mid-western United States), do homes ...
2
votes
1answer
199 views
House Has Different Types of Siding - How to look seamless?
Alright, I am looking to purchase my first house. One of which looks somewhat like the one below. As you can see, it has a brick sided portion and a vinyl sided portion. Obviously this house has been ...
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1answer
472 views
How can I remove faux brick from a kitchen wall?
My kitchen has these fake bricks placed over the drywall on the walls around the cabinets.
My question is, is there a way to remove just the bricks without completely tearing down the cabinets and ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
How do I replace a bricked in mailbox?
My in-laws have a Mailbox that's a normal looking metal mailbox that's in a brick enclosure. It appears that when it was built, someone just put down mortar, set the mailbox in it, covered the ...
5
votes
1answer
176 views
Does my garden brickwork need mortar?
We recently redesigned the walkway through our garden to our back door. This involved lots of scaping of the land -- especially to change the waterflow away from the house. The new walkway ends with a ...
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2answers
493 views
Would replacing old mortar for new prevent water from seeping through brickwork?
Would replacing old mortar for new prevent water from seeping through brickwork?
I have included photographs just in case this is a special case:
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2answers
6k views
What is the best product for repairing expanding gaps in a brick wall?
I am trying to do a structural repair to a brick wall that has some large gaps - 1-3" between some of the bricks due to some foundation movement over the last 300 years. The gaps are essentially ...
5
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1answer
164 views
how to clean up black paint that spilled on exterior bricks
My upstairs neighbor (well she said her cat did it) spilled black paint on her deck/patio last summer. It dripped for 10 minutes down the side of my exterior wall of my unit (outside). It's spilled ...
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1answer
824 views
How to seal and paint a rough plaster and brick wall?
This weekend I took down some old cabinets and the support boards that were nailed into the wall. This took down some of the plaster (old water damage took care of the rest). The surface on the photo ...
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3answers
3k views
How do I cut a channel and plaster television cable work in a brick chimney?
I am buying a new TV, which I intend to mount on the wall.
The wall is a brick chimney breast, early 1900's house. I have heard mentioned on a few sites the idea of cutting a channel, and plastering ...
