Mortar between bricks on both sides of my front door is deteriorating & it gets worse every year. Why are just those areas getting worse?
Answer
This is actually pretty common around front porches and entryways. Think about what happens there all winter. Snow gets shoveled off the porch, slush gets tracked in, salt gets spread around the doorway, and melting snow leaves those lower areas wet over and over again.
Those bricks and mortar can end up seeing a lot more moisture than other parts of your house. Then when temperatures drop, that moisture freezes and expands. After enough freeze-and-thaw cycles, the mortar starts breaking down, and once it starts, you’ll usually notice it getting a little worse every year.
Salt can make the problem even worse because it’s hard on masonry and can contribute to deterioration.
So if the deterioration is mainly around your front entrance, there’s a good chance the extra snow, slush, salt and water that area sees every winter is a big part of the reason why.
