Why are the bricks along my porch starting to bow?
Answer
Many homeowners notice that the bricks on their porch don’t look perfectly flat anymore. This bowing usually shows when moisture has made its way behind the bricks due to cracked mortar joints between the bricks. Over time the bricks begin to shift because the mortar which serves as the “glue” holding the bricks in place is no longer doing its job. We’ve repaired many porches with similar symptoms in Royal Oak. We usually find 1 of 2 things when looking at the porch. Either the bricks can be removed & replaced by themselves to secure the integrity of the porch. A lot of times we can reuse the bricks already on the porch if they’re still in good shape. The other thing we sometimes find is if the porch cap (think cement slab on top of porch) has shifted or cracked. That is a sign the support underneath the porch cap is no longer sufficient, therefore rebuilding the entire porch would be suggested because at that point trying to replace just the bricks with the pressure of a 1,000+ lb porch cap without support underneath is unsafe & asking for trouble.
