Metro Detroit’s Masonry Q&A Hub

The concrete between the bricks on the side of my house looks worn and washed out. What happens if that’s left alone?

Answer

What you’re seeing is called mortar, not concrete, but no big deal, it’s a common mix-up.

Nevertheless, when mortar wears away bricks eventually will begin deteriorating as well or may become loose & shift because the mortar is no longer holding the bricks together.

Some walls take a lot of wind-driven rain, which speeds this up, especially  near the lake in New Baltimore.

Some walls get snow drifts that pile up against them. Other walls get sprayed by sprinkler systems all summer. Mortar repair, called tuckpointing, restores the strength & integrity of the wall. It’s preventative masonry work that avoids larger repairs later. Left alone it will eventually become a more costly repair.

The grout between the bricks near my front steps is crumbling, but the bricks themselves seem fine. What usually has to be done in a situation like that?

Answer

What you’re describing is actually mortar, not grout, but people mix those terms up all the time. Front step areas take a lot of moisture and foot traffic, which wears mortar down faster. Also snow, ice, salt & shoveling in the winter is a lot of abuse year after year. But if the bricks managed to remain solid, the repair focuses on replacing just the deteriorated mortar. This is called tuckpointing. It’s the process of removing old bad mortar & replacing with new mortar. There’s a few more steps to the process but that’s the short version. This will also help prevent the bricks from loosening later and causing damage to the bricks themselves. It’s a very common repair in Pleasant Ridge.