Mason's Reply and the End of All This

I received a reply back; selected passages below with my comments in red:

When we started this project using the sand and lime type mortar (very soft) we were lead to believe that the structure of the house was sound (NO such thing. We called HIM in to let us know what the condition of the house was).
...on returning to complete the tuck pointing I could not in good faith use the soft mortar. You knew that we were using the mason mix product diluted with mortar color. (NO! I did NOT know you were using Mason Mix with portland cement in it. You asked me on day one if the color you had used in July was right. I told you it matched almost perfectly with the old stuff. When I asked about the difference in look on Thursday, you assured me it was a "prepackaged version of the same thing", even after I said that I had seen a portland cement type mortar bag lying around. You told me that there was no portland cement in it, and pointed to a patch on a neighboring house to show me what that would look like. )
This mortar will NOT adversely affect the brick. Also, the original estimate did not include repairing the holes created by the heli ties. At 27+ man hours I feel that we have gone above and beyond the original scope of work.
(True... I was surprised that he didn't charge us more, as I had told him to add the extra work to the estimate)
If you find that our methods are causing damage to your brick we will warranty and remedy it then. I do not feel that this will ever happen. I have have worked on other similar projects using the same methods and have never had any issues. I hope that this eases your worries.
(I am NOT eased of worries, but I will take your warranty)

We do not have a contract that I can find anywhere; my bad. And, essentially we have no legal leg to stand on. Even though he lied to my face three times, and again in writing. We're taking the warranty and will use this as a life lesson hard won. I requested a written and signed copy of the warranty, and have filed it away. I will likely start REpointing the spots affected when we are done with the rest of the house... the warranty should hold us until then.

I think the part that hurts the most is that I conciously paid MORE money to have it done in a way that would protect the house... $1000 more, in fact. I could have had the same job done for $800 using the mortar they used the second time.

Hard Life Lesson #1: Don't assume that anyone you hire to do the work won't try to cut every corner to save time and money. Don't assume they will talk with you about their choices, even if you are home while the work is going on and make yourself available several times a day. Don't assume they won't LIE to your face when cornered on their choices.

Hard Life Lesson #2: Do it yourself, or spend the same amount of time WATCHING the worker constantly.

Hard Life Lesson #3: When needing brick work redone, spend the extra money to hire the man from Denver who teaches about historic restoration in addition to DOING historic preservation only as a job. It's probably worth it, even after you pay the travel fees.

(In response to comments about our brick and mortar, we are sure that the brick is the soft oven fired variety... it is soft enough that a light scrubbing with a toothbrush removes brick. One could easily scratch it with a nail. Our mortar is white, sandy, and appears to be solely lime and sand; this is from a few different masons, and from practical experience.)

Dear Mr Mason

I looked up the ingredients in the Quikrete Mason Mix Type S mortar you used; it's 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 parts masonry sand, 1/2 part hydrated lime, 1 part Portland cement (by volume). There is not nearly enough lime. It's also the second hardest mortar you can buy. I've found examples of Type S mortar dried and cured, and it is grey, not white.

I'm concerned about the effect that this hard mortar will have on my brick. I'm also disappointed; I had several bids done on the house, including one by a man who wanted to use a modern mortar (such as you finished the job with). His price for the house was $600 to $800. We decided that paying the extra money was worth it to us to have the integrity of the brick ensured. Of course, that price didn't include the patching of the bricks, which does look beautiful and I could see took work to look as good as it does. I'm not seriously concerned about the chemical composition of the patches, either, as they will simply pop off if it is unsuitable.

I'm wondering what we should do about this. As it stands, I'm looking at spending next spring chipping out all of the Type S mortar and replacing it with proper mortar (and hoping that the freezing/thawing over the winter doesn't hurt my bricks first).

Thank you for your concern on this issue; I'll wait to hear from you before I send payment.

Sincerely,
Tiny Old House

I WAS RIGHT! GRRRRRR!

It IS portland cement mortar. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the mortar "tinkled" when it dropped, that it looked smooth like modern mortar. I looked up the mortar he used: Quickrete Type S Mortar Mix. It's 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 parts masonry sand, 1/2 part hydrated lime, 1 part Portland cement (by volume). GRRRRRR!!

Now, it doesn't say portland cement anywhere on the bag... I had to do some internet sleuthing to figure out it was the wrong mortar.

I am BEYOND frustrated. BEYOND. Either the mason LIED to my face, OR he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I'm never hiring out work again.

The Right Mortar and Brick Patches

I was wrong! I'll always admit when I am wrong, and wrong I am. I'm VERY happy that I am wrong this morning.

The new mortar is NOT cement based mortar. It IS a premixed lime and sand mortar, so it does look slightly different. It SHOULD cure to the same color... funny how 1 day of curing in 100 degree weather ages it faster than 3 days of 40 and 50 degree weather. Our mason was very nice and walked me through their whole process again.

I wanted to show off the brick patches he's done on the house. Remember all of the nail holes?



We tried many different patches, and settled on a patch made by mixing the mortar with brick dust, patching, and dusting the patch with brick dust. There are two patches in the picture below:



I'm quite happy with them. From more than 2 feet away, you can't see them at all, and from the street it looks like a different house!

The WRONG Mortar?

A few weeks ago we realized that there was NO way we were going to get the house sealed up for winter unless we found the money to fix the bricks around the window so that we could seal up these holes:

A few weeks ago, I called the mason whom we started the work with (and who did a FABULOUS job on the first part!). Luckily, he was able to work us in this week.

They restarted yesterday. Yesterday I came home and thought something was a "bit off" about the mortar. It didn't look quite right... it seemed way too grey and smooth. It was dark out, and the mortar was still wet, so I decided to give a better look at it in daylight:




It looks like cement based mortar. A piece of it dropped on the ground "tinkles" like cement based mortar. And, there is an empty bag of cement based mortar in the pile of things they left overnight.

I'm just sick! Not only does it look like crap up close... it will DESTROY my bricks in the long term. What kills me is that he asked me if the mortar he used last time was looking the way we wanted it! I showed him the pile of sand they used last time, and he said they would use new sand. The owner hasn't personally worked on our house... but it's the same man working on it now that worked on it in July.

I have a call into him, but don't expect to hear back until tomorrow. I don't even know what to do. I HATE confrontation, but I can't let them leave the cement mortar up there. I also can't afford to pay more to fix their mistake. I feel bad... it's two full days of labor wasted, but I need to have it taken care of. Any words of advice?

One last thing... I am NEVER hiring out ANYTHING that I care about how it's done ever again!

Exterior Window Moldings...

When we removed the siding, we were left with ugly window trim:



All of the tan trim surrounding the window is not original; much of it is rotting, and it sticks out beyond the brick. It is also not sealed against the brick. The original windows (as seen from neighboring homes) were trimmed out inside the brick opening. We want to remove the tan trim and replace it with something much more suitable.

Here is a window without the tan trim:


This looks much better, and is more historically accurate (again, given surrounding houses). The problem is the gaps:




The quarter round molding currently on the outside of the window frame appears to be newer (it is missing the first layer of paint); it's broken in places and needs replaced anyway. My thought is to pry it off, and replace with a 1 inch deep block molding that will reach from the brick to where the storm windows will start.

Issues that need solving: Do I caulk between this wood molding and the brick? If not, how to I seal between the brick and wood?

The House is No Longer Falling Down...

on the west side, at least. Today, a mason started the job of shoring up the exterior walls and inserting the Helifix ties to secure it.

They shored up the wall by applying pressure with 4 wide planks of wood.


Then, they drove 4x4's between these planks and posts buried in the ground across the driveway:


They carefully hammered the 4x4's down until they had moved the wall 3/4 of an inch and back in a relatively good position.

After moving the wall, the masons needed to secure it using Helifix ties:

This tie is 3/8 inch thick and 8 inches long.

First a pilot hole is driven; then, the tie is countersunk into the wall with a special driver. Here's what is visible from the outside:



A little patch of mortar and it should be hard to see where they are!

Red Brick Victorian Houses in Denver

While I was away, I found myself in a fabulous Denver neighborhood full of brick Victorian houses. Most are much grander than ours, but they gave us some great ideas for paint colors to match our red brick cottage.

Here are a few of our favorites:














I really like the first one and the fourth one the best. Here's the house mocked up:
#1


#4/5


We're still playing with paint ideas; here's one more:

An Update on the Brick

An update before I leave town for two weeks... I have a convention and a training to attend for work. See you on the other side!

The Brick:
After doing much research, we found that these anchors are what we need. There are a few different brands; all require a special $250 driver that is attached to a hammer drill and cost around $5 each. They are inserted into the mortar joints through pre-drilled pilot holes (also drilled with a hammer drill). We need 350 of them.

Our mason decided he didn't feel comfortable doing the work, so we asked a mason who specializes in this sort of work to come and give a quote.

The damage? $2676.

This includes the $1500 or so in materials. It's JUST for inserting the ties; we will have the first mason do the patching of the holes when he finishes up the brick work.

It's also a lot of money.

My father-in-law is a stone cutter/worker by trade, and has offered to come and help us do it ourselves. We can save almost $1000, even after we buy the special driver... which we might be able to sell off after we are done.

Of course, this won't happen for another two weeks.... lots to think on!

A Look at the Brickwork

Our mason is back in town today, and coming over to talk about plans for continuing. I thought I would share pictures of the little bit of work that was completed before we discovered the moving walls. It really looks nice!

Underneath a Window
Before:

After:


A Corner
Before:


After:


This one isn't completely finished, as you can see... it was in progress when they stopped.

Overall, I am VERY pleased. The new mortar is almost indistiguishable from the old; the slight difference you can see is dirt staining the old mortar. The new bricks are blending in very well, too. I am glad we chose to hire this out; the level of craftsmanship is not something I feel I could attain myself!

Crisis Averted!

The structural engineer came out and didn't seem TOO worried. He said he's seen worse. And... the fix doesn't seem too expensive (and it sounds like we can do it ourselves if needed)...

We are going to drive 8 inch stainless steel corkscrews into the mortar to bring the two walls together. They shouldn't cost more than $5 each, are driven in with a hammer drill (which we have), and are needed every 16 inches or so sideways and up and down. We'll countersink them, and then fill in with a dab of mortar to patch. We will need to move the wall back into position using 4x4's and a masonry jack, as well.

We are going to have our mason bid on the new work, too... if it's reasonable, we'll let him do it. If it's a little much, we'll drive them in ourselves. Unfortunately, he is headed out on vacation this weekend, and won't be back until next week.

Crisis averted!

The Walls are Falling! The Walls are Falling!

I WISH I was Chicken Little.

The mason we chose to do the brickwork (Mason #2) came over to start work today. Since we hadn't yet replaced the too-small window or removed the excess wood from the windows, they started on the corners... they are doing a beautiful job so far! The mortar and bricks are matching almost seamlessly.

We removed the excess wood from the windows while they worked on the brick. It's the light tan wood in this picture, and was used to bring the window trim out beyond the siding:



It was obscuring some of the repairs needed.

Then the mason called us over to look at a couple sample patches for the nail holes. We decided that a particular mix of clay might work the best. As we watched, he pushed the clay into the nail hole... AND THE WHOLE WALL MOVED INWARDS.

The window frames were keeping the walls from moving.

We know what is happening... the two wyeths of brick that form the cavity wall are separating. They should have been laid with a Flemish course (using bricks laid the short way to tie the wyeths together) when it was built. Now we will have to find a way to tie these wyeths together 100 years later.

We have a structural engineer coming out at 9 am tomorrow... please send us your good thoughts. I have no idea how much this is going to cost. It sure sounds expensive. Wish us luck.

Reading the Writing on the Walls...

In preparation for keeping the brick NATURAL (yes, we've decided to scrape up the money to keep it natural... thanks for your comments to assure us it was worth it!), I've been scrubbing down the brick. There are spiderwebs and crayon names and drawings to remove before work is started!

It's a veritable "who's who" of the house's former child residents!


"CARMEN O" and "TONY C"


"CARMEN O"


"TONY C"


"Mma" ?


"HABMN" ?


"ARRX" ?


"MURRAY"

... and many more that are no longer legible or were obscene in some way.

I've been using a soft, natural bristle roofing brush to clean the brick. I cleaned the cobwebs and dust off first, using the bristle brush dry, and now am dipping the brush in water to help remove the snap chalk lines from the siding installation.

The crayon and chalk names are the hardest to remove... they are right by the front door, though, so I want them gone. I found using a SOFT toothbrush gives just the right amount of abrasion for removing the writing but not the brick. I've scrubbed just about every brick on the front of the house by hand with a toothbrush...

The Second Brick Estimate... and a Quandary

A second mason made his appearance at our house today; I must say I am impressed. He pronounced our house to be in excellent condition for its age and need in only minor repairs. (Just like the first mason).

Brownie Points:

• He mentioned that he used to live a couple blocks away in an old house, and how neat these old houses are.
• He mentioned that the old mortar was just lime and sand, which would need replicated to avoid damaging brick BEFORE I asked about what mortars he would use. (The other mason danced around this question, and mentioned something about white mortar)
• He was appalled that we might paint, and said he could make it look good enough to not need paint. (The other mason said we couldn't NOT paint)
• He has enough bricks of the right size, age, and approximate color in his yard RIGHT NOW to do the job. (The other mason wasn't sure where to get them)

Did I mention he doesn't want us to paint?

We had him give us two estimates; one for just structural work so we could paint and one for making it "pretty" with matching brick and mortar.

Structural Work: $600
"Pretty" Work: $1800
(In comparison, the first mason was $400 to $800 for essentially structural work)

I must say... the "pretty" work was much less than I feared it could be. It doesn't include filling the nail holes, as he said that anything he could do would look like filled nail holes, and the holes themselves would be less notice-able.


Now the quandary... perhaps we should not have started this project this summer, but money is tight around here. Due to grad school, less work than usual this summer for me, and the rising cost of fuel and food, we will really have to scrape $1800 up (and credit of any sort is NOT an option). Unfortunately, I don't think we can do the $600 structural fix, and then "go back" and have them do the "pretty" fix. We really do want the natural brick, and I think it will have higher resale value overall...

Vote: Paint or Natural?

We Finally got a Brick Estimate!

We FINALLY got a mason to come over and look at our house! It only took about 10 days of calling every mason in the phone book. Isn't there a housing crisis and a downturn in house building right now? You'd think they'd need work!

The mason was very hard to read... in fact, we thought our house might be falling down from the looks on his face for about 5 silent minutes.

Luckily, he was very positive! He said it looks structurally fine, and that there was about a day's work in repointing various spots and rebuilding some of the areas under windows. He didn't want to give an actual estimate until we had scrubbed the brick down... but did give us a ball park of $400 a day, with no more than 2 days of work. Definitely in our price range...

He WASN'T so positive about being able to keep it natural OR our ability to find matching bricks... he said we will probably need to paint due to this.

So here's the question... how bad WILL a missmatched brick or three look every once in a while? Is it preferable to painted brick? And finally... if we are going to end up painting it, will we be better off just doing the work ourselves (since it won't have to look perfect if it is to be covered in paint)?

(For pictures of the work to be done, see this post)

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

We have most of the house cleared of siding and wood now; it's been a slow, steady, and hot process.

The Good

Original Sills and Headers Intact



NOT Covered in Asbestos Siding

The Bad
Whoever re-sided the house took the brick off of the back of the house entirely, and framed that wall and the addition in instead. (I have my theories that I will explain in a future post, hopefully with historic backup.) That leaves us with about 3 feet of original house on each side of the addition that is NOT brick anymore. We've left the steel siding up for now.


Corner A, crumbling with a large stairstep crack working up from the bottom to join it. This corner ajoins the "new" frame construction of the house, and we are a little afraid to take off the wood that is currently over part of it.



Corner B: Vertical cracks, mostly missing bricks, and stairstep cracks, OH MY!






Cracks, cracks, and more cracks...


And loose bricks everywhere.


The Ugly


There are chips out of many of the bricks on the lower quarter of the house from where the previous owners carelessly ripped off the wood strips and tacked them up a little closer together for the steel siding skirt.


A big hole in the wall, where the previous porch columns were attached to the house.

The Plan
The plan of action is to call in a historic brick specialist and have an inspection done. Hopefully we can find some one who can do this for us, as we don't feel we have the expertise to determine the causes and fixes for all of these problems.

What A Change! (Siding Update)

One Week Ago:


Today:


We removed ALL of the wood from the front and east side of the house today (except the corners)!



I pried wood from the fronts of the windows:



Those white things are the original headers and sills. They seem to be in excellent condition... a little sanding and paint, and they'll be good as new! Now you can REALLY see why getting the exact size of window MIGHT be non-negotiable.

Here's a view of the door's header... it's in the same vein, though much thicker:



Tomorrow: Wood and steel siding come down off of the west side!