Advice on mortar that seems to be dust?

Hi guys! I’m due to close on a brownstone in the next couple of weeks. The back wall is all brick with a new window and repointing around it and I’ve noticed that outside of the new pointing, under the fresh paint is very crumbly, the mortar is almost dust.
Is this a big deal and how concerned should I be? I would estimate it’s across approx 2/3 of a 3 story house. (For context – the inspection did pick it up and the seller pushed back saying they couldn’t find any evidence of crumbling).

Guest User | 5 years and 2 months ago

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JohnHancock | 5 years and 1 month ago

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I would have thus done myself instead of the seller. Seller would do this as quick and cheap as possible. Tell the seller you’ll take care of it and take a credit instead otherwise you’ll have to redo it anyway

Guest User | 5 years and 1 month ago

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Thank you @stevecym – yes agree on the painting over the brick. Not ideal by any means and I’d hope to be able to strip it one day and repoint properly. The seller is going to scrape off the old mortar (I’ve read that this needs to be pretty deep) and re-do. I’ll then send my inspector back before closing. Just want to make sure the whole place doesn’t collapse soon as I close!

vinniebarbarino | 5 years and 2 months ago

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Likely needs a repointing with appropriate mortar. Call a mason and estimate. I would assume it is not so expensive but only a competent Mason will know.

Guest User | 5 years and 2 months ago

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I’ve got some crumbly/dusty brick myself so while less curious about the level of concern, I am curious who people are loving these days for this kind of repair work. Would like to get resolved before the winter.

stevecym | 5 years and 2 months ago

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kind of surprised no one has come in on this-

brick walls should not be painted. first rule of thumb.

another thing is that a lot of people repoint today by going right over the old mortar which does not give the new stuff anything to bond to. in the old days (20-40 years ago; its really not that long ago), they raked the old joint clean and even wet the old brick before applying new mortar..

i am not saying that what i mention above has anything to do with what you are experiencing but my suspicion is that people paint mortar walls not to FIX problems but to HIDE problems that might take a little more money to address properly.

i am not a mason, though i did do some mortar work on a historic wall in my early twenties and learned a couple of things about this at that time. that’s a while ago though..