Shoutout to the old brickyard wall on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie

Walked past it Saturday and noticed the 1940s brickwork still has perfectly struck joints after 80 years of winters, which made me want to ask what mortar mix you all use for repairs on old walls like that.

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harper1918d ago

Have you looked close at whether they used lime mortar instead of portland cement? That old brickwork holds up so well because lime lets the wall breathe and flex with the freeze and thaw. Portland cement is too hard and traps water, which is usually what makes old brick spall and crack over time. For repairs on something like that I would match the soft lime mix, maybe a 1 to 3 ratio, so the patch moves the same way the rest of the wall does.

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