# Question Re. Parging Over Brick



## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

if i'm reading your post correctly, wire mesh the column & parge away,,, the brick's probably deteriorated because it couldn't breathe + it was subject to freeze/thaw damage from water penetrating the tile - NEVER a good idea UNLESS you're in mexico or anyplace where it NEVER gets below 34f imn-s-hfo :thumbsup:

next time just clean the brick & apply 2 coats of silicone siloxane sealer,,, btw, picture or 2 wouldda been a huge aid :yes:


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

Thanks for the reply itstreallyconc, appreciate the input.

The silicone sealer lets the brick breathe? Or does it just keep out the moisture? Would have to pull the whole porch apart to get at *all* the bricks and apply sealer, instead of just the exposed face?

Anyways, here are some scientific diagrams of what I plan to do:
http://img404.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=crosssection.png

(I didn't bother to resize the pics, so if you just click on the link you'll bring up the steps to my scheme. The last pic shows the cross section and indicates where the air space will be.)

Cheers,
CS


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

I'm with IRC on this one. Anchor galvaized lath directly to brick & plaster it out, using mostly lime in the mortar. Let it sit for a few weeks and seal with a siloxane or even a somewhat breathable paint if you want.

And, an actual picure, as well as the climate in your area, would still help.


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

I can't do much about an actual picture right now since I'm at the office.

I'm in Ottawa; we have cold, dry winters and hot, humid summers. R


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

Well I screwed up. I did the parging in type S, which I thought was lime based. Then I looked it up and found out it's cement based.

I'll leave it as is for a year, but next summer I guess I'll tear down the lathing and re-do it with lime based mortar that I'll mix myself.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

CS


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## NJ Brickie (Mar 4, 2009)

Nothing wrong with using a type s mortar. You did nail lath to the brick? Type S is 1 part portland cement, 1/2 part lime, 4 1/2 parts sand


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

I didn't use nails, I used 3/16" tapcons with washers to anchor the lathe.

Type S is okay then? I figured it wouldn't let the brick breathe enough since it's not as permeable as a mortar with a higher lime content.


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## NJ Brickie (Mar 4, 2009)

You had two options at the start. A breathable system or seal it off. If you wanted it to breathe you could have used a Type K mortar. Since you now have a Type S on there you have gone the seal it off direction. As long as water is not getting to the brick you will be fine. Are there areas that you did not seal off? As long as the lath was secured well and you have a decent thickness of parging (atleast 1/2") on there you will be ok. I would also buy a quality masonry paint and paint it.


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

No, all the exposed faces are parged over now. The inside of the porch is still exposed, but it keeps pretty dry it seems.

Should I then seal around the seams i.e. caulk around the edges of the parging? Someone told me something about caulking around window sills between the sill and the brick after repointing to keep water out.

Thanks for the tips!


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

we wouldn't use caulk as its got a short life expectancy,,, instead we'd use polyurethane, polysulfide, or 100% silicone - ALL w/closed-cell backer rod in the proper size reservoir


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## jomama45 (Nov 13, 2008)

This should last a fairly long time the way you did it. There is the chance that water may wick up from the groung though.

A picture of the actual situation would still be easier for me to understand exactly what you have going on though.


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

itsreallyconc said:


> we wouldn't use caulk as its got a short life expectancy,,, instead we'd use polyurethane, polysulfide, or 100% silicone - ALL w/closed-cell backer rod in the proper size reservoir



http://www.homedepot.ca/wcsstore/Ho...og/20396646-27dc-490f-9258-759c8cd24aec_4.jpg

/\/\/\
Is this the stuff I want, i.e. GE 100% Silicone for Door and Window?

Also, what does the backer rod do? I'll have to chip out some of the scratch coat to fit one in. (Was planning to do the second coat tonight).

Cheers,
CS


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

jomama45 said:


> This should last a fairly long time the way you did it. There is the chance that water may wick up from the groung though.
> 
> A picture of the actual situation would still be easier for me to understand exactly what you have going on though.


I'll throw up a photo or two tonight!


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

rather see tubes from any const supply house for dow/corning type m silicone ( ' m ' means you have to ' tool ' the sealant ) ' tooling ' forces the mtl into the substrate jnt faces & provides better adhesion,,, ' sl ' is self-leveling & we wouldn't pick it,,, backer rod provides shape factor,,, jnt sealants are designed for 2-sided adhesion, NOT 3


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

What does 'tooling' mean? does this mean I just push it in with the little rubber angle tool I use for caulking in bathrooms etc?

Also, is this the stuff I want then?
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/...artial&Ntx=mode+matchall&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

"GE 100% silicone concrete and masonry sealant" (looks like a tube of caulking)


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

we used a piece of 3/4" steel rod to save our backs,,, after jnt tooling for 100s of miles, you tend to walk bent over a bit sometimes :laughing:

read dow corning's w-site for proper shape factor,,, we did the 1st NYSDOT hgwy jnt sealing contract using ge silicone over 35yrs ago,,, lots of it was still there 20 yrs later even tho the design life was 7yrs :thumbsup:


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

Good to know re. the durability of the GE sealant, and thanks again to everyone for the useful info.

I guess I might have to worry about moisture seeping in through the concrete footer as per jomama's post, is there anything I could do about that?


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## Captain.Sassy (Jun 17, 2010)

http://img138.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=dsc04220.jpg

Here are some pics of the pillar with the scratch coat on. One of the pics shows the pillar from the inside- you can see that the bricks are in pretty good shape. I did push a bit of mortar in between some of them though.

There's not much space between the parging and the concrete of the porch, so I might just put a bead of sealant along there without the backer rod (I'd have to chip out some cement to put a backer in).

I put a ''final'' coat on two of the faces last night before I ran out of time after work. Looks OK this morning, but kind of blotchy i.e. some areas look darker than others. I say ''final'' because i'm going to have to touch them up a bit still I think.


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## slickgt1 (Apr 1, 2010)

See where the columns meet the dirt / pebbles. Clean around them about 4" - 6", and put cement, like a little dome to the column, that will help keep the ground watter from collecting near the column. Basically make a little pitch, so that the water goes away from the columns.


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