Maintaining exposed exterior brick wall on end of brownstones.

Efflorescence as you are aware is due to water intrusion and the salt contained within it. A lot of time brick buildings on older buildings are not maintained which can lead to conditions such as this. Intermittent brick re-pointing is important to help mitigate water intrusion in older buildings. Additionally, you should look at the coping or lack thereof at the top of the brick wall. If this is not performing correctly, water will seep into the wall instead of draining away.

Best of Luck,

Alex Furini, RA
Furini Architects, PLLC

alex

in General Discussion 6 years ago

2

Please log in, in order to post replies!

2 replies

Newest Oldest

squeakycleaning

in General Discussion 6 years ago

string(1) "2"
object(WP_User)#4953 (8) {
  ["data"]=>
  object(stdClass)#4956 (12) {
    ["ID"]=>
    string(6) "190257"
    ["user_login"]=>
    string(15) "squeakycleaning"
    ["user_pass"]=>
    string(34) "$P$BFUsFHfcKGcTyA4.b5bbXd1LI1XQhs0"
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(15) "squeakycleaning"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(34) "squeakycleaningmarketing@gmail.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2024-02-22 16:48:41"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(33) "Squeaky Cleaning Squeaky Cleaning"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(190257)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(1) {
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "subscriber"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(3) {
    ["read"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["level_0"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

I live in a brick/brownstone building that is last in a row of buildings, with no adjoining building on one side. We’ve noticed quite a bit of efflorescence (salt forming on the inside of the brick wall, due to water seeping through the cracks) in our basement. I was wondering if anyone else was in the same position of having an entire side of building exposed to the elements, and what experience you’ve had with maintenance/repairs/etc.

alex | 6 years ago

string(1) "1"
object(WP_User)#4899 (8) {
  ["data"]=>
  object(stdClass)#4932 (12) {
    ["ID"]=>
    string(4) "1928"
    ["user_login"]=>
    string(4) "alex"
    ["user_pass"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(4) "alex"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(20) "arichman33@gmail.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2007-08-15 17:26:38"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(4) "alex"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(1928)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(0) {
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Efflorescence as you are aware is due to water intrusion and the salt contained within it. A lot of time brick buildings on older buildings are not maintained which can lead to conditions such as this. Intermittent brick re-pointing is important to help mitigate water intrusion in older buildings. Additionally, you should look at the coping or lack thereof at the top of the brick wall. If this is not performing correctly, water will seep into the wall instead of draining away.

Best of Luck,

Alex Furini, RA
Furini Architects, PLLC