The entire faces on the bricks are falling apart on my wall near my downspout. I know my gutter leaks a little but that seems like a lot of damage for a little leak. Is it possible the bricks on my house are just lower quality?
Answer
Yes, it’s possible you have a softer or lower-quality brick, but the leaking gutter is probably a much bigger part of the problem than it seems. Brick is porous, so if water is constantly running down or soaking into that wall, the bricks absorb that moisture. During our Michigan winters, that moisture freezes, expands, and can eventually cause the faces of the bricks to pop off or deteriorate, which is called spalling. Some bricks hold up to that freeze-and-thaw cycle better than others, so you may notice severe damage in one area while the rest of the house looks fine. The first thing I’d recommend is getting the gutter or downspout problem corrected so you stop feeding water into the wall. After that, we can remove and replace the individual damaged bricks if the problem is isolated. If there’s extensive damage, we’d also want to look at the surrounding mortar and wall to make sure there isn’t a larger moisture problem before deciding on the best repair.
