[miamicuse]

I have an exterior deck with old reclaimed Chicago bricks set on a thick mortar bed probably over 50 years old. A small section of it at one corner probably about 5' by 5' had deteriorated mortar joints. I removed all the loose mortar joints this morning, cleaned it up real good, then I went ahead and put new mortar in the joints this afternoon.


I used Type S stucco/mortar mix. After I filled in all the mortar, I used a sponge to clean the bricks and joints several times.


In the process of cleaning with a sponge, it brings more sand up to the surface. For future reference, is there a way to wipe down the bricks without changing the texture of the joints with all the sand being brought to the surface?


In addition, as I clean the bricks, being these are old Chicago bricks, it has stamped markings on the bricks. as I applied the mortar and clean it the mortar got into these stamped markings. What is a good way to avoid having to come back with a small wire brush to clean out the mortar brick by brick?


After I cleaned the bricks a third time with a sponge, I laid down a sheet of visqueen and weighted that down with a few bricks at the corner so it retains as much moisture as possible and in case it rains (it did rain heavily yesterday). How long should I wait before I can really spray down the are with a garden hose to clean off all the sand? 24 hours? 36 hours or longer?

 

[ClarenceBauer]

I have used a water proofing product applied to the brick surface before the mortar joints are cut out.
The first waterproofing I used was a Paraffin based product I don't know if these are still available at this time.
The others were Oil & Water repellents.
Another one is Limestone & Marble Protector.

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK to make sure that the water proofing will NOT cause the mortar to adhere to the new mortar some of the Siloxane water proofing will make the mortar stick to the brick.

 

[miamicuse]

Thanks ClarenceBauer, here is a picture of the landing area today.

The area I redid the mortar joints is to the right side, where you see the bricks with a haze of white. If I mist the bricks with water, it will look fine, until it dries then the haze returns. I took a wire brush to brush it good today I think it helped a little, but the white is still there.


I have read that one trick is to use a diluted muriatic acid solution to brush the bricks. However my concern is the one side of this landing is the front gate, the other side of the landing is connected to a wood bridge over a fish pond. I wonder if I use muriatic acid then hose it off it will run into the pond and kill the fish.

I wonder if the haze will wear over time.

 

[ClarenceBauer]

Do a sample using house hold Vinegar.

 

[miamicuse]

Do a sample using house hold Vinegar.

ClarenceBauer thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. I tried two applications of vinegar brushing gently on the bricks and the white haze is gone. The area inside the red boundary is where I applied vinegar.

:vs_cool::vs_cool::vs_cool: