Oh the joys of owning a brick house! You might remember my post about our failing porch columns. Here’s where things stand as of today.
:: Broken and Busted
The entire column above has to be rebuilt. Fortunately the brick can be reused, for the most part. What can’t be reused will be replaced with bricks I found in the backyard when I was working on the planting beds. Ages ago, someone laid a row of brick for an old bed, and it was buried a few inches deep. When the contractor and I dug them out of the ground, we realized the matched the brick on the house. I’m glad they were there because matching this brick wasn’t going to be an easy task.
:: Ground Down
The column above has had its old mortar ground away. At some point, these columns were also “repointed” with a variety of materials, including caulk, glue and cement. For those who are attempting their own DIY masonry repairs: Please don’t use cement in place of mortar. It’s too hard for that application, and it’s extremely difficult to grind out of joints. And obviously don’t use caulk or glue. Mortar is the only material that should be used in brick masonry.
:: At the Ready
The stack on the right above shows the old bricks that were dug up from the backyard. The bricks on the left are from a building materials salvage yard here in town. A few of the new bricks might have to be used in inconspicuous places if we don’t have enough of the old ones.
:: Just like Frosting a Cake
This column above has had all its mortar and cement ground out. The top shows the freshly piped-in mortar and the bottom shows what it looks like after raking. We went with raked joints to match the rest of the home and preserve it in a historically accurate manner.
:: Tools
I have a thing for toolkits of all kinds. I’ve never before seen a mason’s toolkit up close.
:: More Tools
From the progress so far, I’d say this project will be completed in just a few more days. That’s when my husband and I will take over and grind the failing paint off the porch, then plant new foundation plants that accentuate the home’s lovely new brickwork.
:: Trailer
We talked with several contractors about completing this work. I advise anyone in the same situation to interview a number of contractors and choose wisely. In our case, we wanted someone who was quick and responsive, clearly knew what they were doing, had experience working with older homes, and had a desire to preserve the home rather than modify it in ways that would undercut its historic value.
My next post on this topic will, I hope, be the “after” photo of the completed work.
Looks like it’s going really well. I’ve done some brick repair but on a very small decorative column that didn’t “support” much. It was fun, actually. It’s good you took your time and hired someone you felt comfortable with. The work looks great.
P.S. I love looking through contractors tool boxes! Fun. The carpenter that built my kitchen cabinets couldn’t get me out of his van. Awesome stuff in there. HA!
Stacey, I’d love to see the work you did. Our situation was too far gone to have even attempted to fix it ourselves.
I really like the guys we hired. They’re professional, smart and extremely competent. I haven’t gotten into their trailer yet, though I did take a peek inside it. I think it’s funny that you got in your kitchen contractor’s van. What did he think of that?
The work was on our last house. (We had a nice conversation before about our “old” neighborhoods) It had a porch that had 3 concrete steps up to it (house on piers). On the each side of the three steps was a brick column and a concrete piece that sat on the top of the column. So it really was decorative more than structural.
Here’s a picture The mortar was all falling out and the bricks were shifting, etc. It wasn’t as bad as yours so I felt pretty confident. It was pretty fun, though and I’ll never be scared to attempt it again. We have a huge brick fire place and cooker in our current back yard that we need to have re-done so I’m especially interested to know how your experience went. It will be a big job.. like yours.
The carpenter LOVED IT! I’ve found that most do. They’re usually excited that you’re excited and love to talk and show off their skills and the tools they work with. He spent a good three weeks at our house so by then I felt comfortable acting like a fool around him. He totally ate it up.
How did you even know how to begin? And how did you get the bricks to be level and equally spaced? My father once hired a bricklayer to redo part of our fence, and the man did such a terrible job that my dad had to hire someone else and have it all redone. I’ve been scared to even touch brickwork ever since. Kudos to you for going for it, and with excellent results.
You should play with a stack sometime. It’s not as hard as you might think. The mortar is very forgiving as you tap and move the bricks to keep them level..you just scrape away the excess. Once you do a few you pretty much figure out how much mortar to slap on. I think you’d like doing it. obviously I would never tackle anything as important as the columns that support my house… but small things… absolutely!
Your porch is wonderful… the new brick work is great. Such a difference!
I’m looking at the porch area in the background. The floor is cement? Are you planning to paint? Polish? We’re trying to pick colors for our porch floor, but haven’t decided what direction to go.
The floor is indeed cement. My guess is that it was wood at one point, which would be consistent with the rest of the Craftsman construction in town. It looks like the porch and the caps on the columns were poured at the same time. The caps were unfortunately poured *over* the brick in the columns, so there’s no easy way to remove those and install proper stone caps.
The contractor and his partner are going to try to grind the cement caps down and make them look more like stone, and Jon and I are going to try to grind all the paint off the porch itself. What we end up doing thereafter depends on how successful we are. If we get all the paint off, we might leave it all unpainted. If not, we’ll most likely repaint using proper painting technique in a dark gray or greige color.
What colors are you considering for your porch floor? These days, I lean toward dark neutrals that go away rather than anything (like the current red we have) that advances and makes a statement. Also, bright colors can send unwanted light into your living space if any light from the porch reflects up and through your windows. Right now, we get a strong red in the living room every afternoon. It looks like an open mouth or the entrance to Hades. Not quite the lighting we’re looking for in our living space.
I always forget to hit “reply”
We (ME) have decided that we should refinish the wood we have, and keep it natural. Painting would be ridiculously easier… since it wouldn’t be necessary to sand down the entire porch. Plus, would keep the water from continuing to damage the exposed edges.
I prefer the look of natural wood, which will require sanding the entire area… and from all the reading/research I’ve done on stain/sealant, we may not be happy with how it holds up in the long-term. But I hate to paint something that isn’t already…
Good luck grinding off all that paint. That sounds like a totally awesome project.
I am sure it will look fantastic. Do you / will you have gutters on the home to keep water off the porch area? How many times a year do you get wind-driven rain? Those are just some other factors to consider. Also, if natural wood is historically how Victorian porches were finished, then that makes the most sense. For me, being true to the homes history always trumps the easiest or even most “practical” solution.