Masonry Waterproofing

We have a brownstone brick back wall with an old coat of thoroseal on it. We were interested in removing thethoroseal for the look of brick and wondering if that is possible. If not, what would be the best next step for waterproofing? In reading the forum I hear many mixed felings about thoroseal and I’m not sure which way to go, if in fact the brick is hard to remove. So far, I only spoke to one contractor GM Construction, and he told me if would be virtually impossible to remove the old coat and gave me quotes for another layer of thoroseal (cheapest option), or putting on a very smooth coat of paintable cement. Looking for advice on this as we are new owners and want to deal with all the critical maintenance issues.Also please recommend contractors that do this kind of work.Thanks

xistent

in Masonry 13 years and 10 months ago

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asia_2010 | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Please contact Anthony the Mason, 347 307 4725.  He has done many waterproofing exposed brick jobs in brookly.  You will not be dissapointed…  Good Luck!

anonymous | 13 years and 10 months ago

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If there is an old coat of thorocoat than it will be hard to remove 100%.depend on budget you may have necessary pointing and coat of thoroseal again thats the cheaper.cement stucoo with wiremash and thoro coat or thoroseal will be long lasting project.with cement stucco you will have a nice smoth surface and there are lots of colors of thoroseal you can choice.you may get an estimate from M.Hamid Construction Co.#718-633-1500

wyckoff | 13 years and 10 months ago

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You should definitely have a mason look at it, because it’s impossible to know what issues you may have without looking.  If what you have on your bricks is simply thoroseal (or some other masonry) paint, then you should be able to remove that with no issues.  Depending on the condition of the brick underneath, you probably are OK just repointing, but depending on the bricks, you may want to seal them.  Thoro makes a clear sealer as well as the paint.  If what you have is a thin layer of concrete between the brick and paint, then taking it off is virtually impossible without damaging the outer surface of the bricks.If you want to talk to a mason who actually knows what he’s doing, call Brownstone Authority.

slopegirl | 13 years and 10 months ago

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We looked into this last summer and ended up going with just repointing where needed and a new coat of thoroseal over top. Some on this forum said you need to get the thoroseal OFF and some said no big deal. Contractors all had varying opinions too. Since there wasn’t a clear consensus and I never heard a truly compelling reason for us to believe that it was imperative to remove the thoroseal, we refreshed. One woman actually responded to my posting on this forum saying she had done the strip off thoroseal and completely repoint the brick and it was dreadfully expensive and awful noise and mess–one of those project where they said $10,000 and it ended up being $25k or something like that. And a nightmare while it was happening…. I think that was decisive opinion for me.Just FYI we had Transcend do ours, they also repaired and repainted fire escape. For four-story building it cost $7500 I think. Very happy with results. They also fixed leader…

anonymous | 13 years and 10 months ago

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It is true once you have thoroseal on the bricks, it is almost impossible to get rid off it. There couple options you have: 1) either do thoroseal again ( which will be cheaper than other option) 2) Put galvanized wirematch then do put two coats gray cement or 3) Power wash and grinding then do pointing if it possible. But second option is the better of all three. It might be costing you a bit but worth doing for a long time and it will make your backyard wall bit more sturdy. I am assuming that’s what you want to do. I have suggestion for you regarding contractor whom I used to do work in my backyard concrete and cement on the wall. Call Millad at (718)669-8305 or email at ctgconstruction@gmail.com. Tell them niloy rec. them to you. They very easy and reliable to work. Give them a try and I am sure you will like it. Let us know how it goes.  Their company name is CTG Construction.NK

Arkady | 13 years and 10 months ago

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I’d get a mason to look at it.  Obviously the Thoroseal was put on to solve some kind of problem – it may be that the entire wall needs repointing.  A neighbor of mine had Thoroseal removed w/ low-pressure water soak over a few days.