masonry

[dkff49]

I have been asked by someone if there was a way to get mortar off of bricks. From the sounds of things her son-in-law was tasked with repairing some missing mortar in a chimney and did a pretty sloppy job of it. There is mortar slapped all over the face of the bricks. I don't really want to try to chisel it off, but I just got done reading that you can use muriatic acid to clean mortar off masonry. I would say that the mortar to be removed is 1/16" to 1/8" thick.

Is there any masons out there that have tried this method or know of a better way? How difficult is the acid to use? How touchy is it to keep the acid from staining?

I told this woman that I won't be chiseling it even if that is what is needed. I am too worried that I could chisel off pieces of brick and even risk breaking some of them. I have already instructed her to contact a mason but I don't think she did yet and that was before I found a few articles about the muriatic acid.

 

[FiLtH]

  Maybe rub the chimney w/ a brick if it isnt too big an area? Or with the lazy son in laws head?

[guncrasher]

after my 4 years of college, 2 /12 years in the marines, 10 years in construction, 2 years of smoking dope, all i know is water and chisel is your friend.  but I would like to know where I went wrong.

semp

[mijoieau]

Acid is good if its fresh about 1 week old then lots of acid and a very high pressure sprayer (not electric but one thats takes up a trailer will do)
I used to clean houses after the brickies and its boring as hell but works.
forkit

[Jenks]

No good deed goes unpunished. 

[Fud]

If the mortar has been there a while then good luck using acid water solution....The mortar is pretty much set. Muriatic acid is nasty stuff so be careful! I am in the home improvement industry and when I see stuff like this, I sell them a new chimney. It will be faster and cheaper to have it rebuilt than trying to chisel off mortar and you won't need to worry damaging the brick face trying to chisel the old mortar off. Good luck and let us know how things turned out <S> Fuddy

[Megalodon]

I am in the home improvement industry and when I see stuff like this, I sell them a new chimney. It will be faster and cheaper to have it rebuilt than trying to chisel off mortar and you won't need to worry damaging the brick face trying to chisel the old mortar off.

That is ridiculous.

It sounds to me as if you should go down to the local stone shop and find some sort of stone, tile or rock <lick and stick> that the home owner likes and update with a new look and cover the brick.
I do this about 2-3 times a year on fireplaces. There are lots of options.

Usually I cover the brick 1st with a thin layer of fortified thin-set to get it flat and a make good bonding surface, then cover it with what ever the owner wants. Veneer stone, river rock, sandstone, etc. Depending on what they may like, you may have to grout or mortar the gaps. Most folks
use a tile or large flat stones for the hearth and rock or stone to coverthe brick.

Good luck,

[Shuffler]

That is ridiculous.

It sounds to me as if you should go down to the local stone shop and find some sort of stone, tile or rock <lick and stick> that the home owner likes and update with a new look and cover the brick.
I do this about 2-3 times a year on fireplaces. There are lots of options.

Usually I cover the brick 1st with a thin layer of fortified thin-set to get it flat and a make good bonding surface, then cover it with what ever the owner wants. Veneer stone, river rock, sandstone, etc. Depending on what they may like, you may have to grout or mortar the gaps. Most folks
use a tile or large flat stones for the hearth and rock or stone to coverthe brick.

Good luck,

This works very well and looks great. It is not expensive at all.

[zack1234]

Go down to B&Q and get masonary cleaner, used some last week(non acid type)

Wire brush as well

Longer you leave it the harder to get off 

[mthrockmor]

Go old school, get a wire brush. You may change the color just a we bit from the other bricks but should work just fine.

Boo

[tf15pin]

I would try a needle scaler with a careful hand. I wouldn't expect it to damage hard bricks as long as you don't sit in one spot and pound through. The usual forewarning of try it in an inconspicuous spot first applies.

[mbailey]

Careful with the Muratic acid, in some situations it can yellow the bricks. (

I worked for a Fire/Water/Mold restoration company for years before becoming a Large loss adjuster for an insurance co.....  Ran into the same problem when one of my subs did a lousy job repointing a wall. He decided to make it right by getting Muratic acid and cleaning the brick. It made the issue worse. Thank god we were able to get it out using the solution below.


*****First and foremost, make sure you try this in an inconspicous area.
 A cut down solution (appx 10 parts water to 2 parts of Muratic acid) and a wire brush (manual or drill attachment), Spray it with the acid solution and work at it with the wire brush.

*****Make sure you have a source of clean water to rinse the brick frequently, dont let the acid sit to long, It will make the color from the brick run down into the new pointing. If the pointing gets stained, then its a whole other nightmare.

If you run into problems, let me know, I have a Restoration company that my company uses, theyre  in Lancaster, Id be glad to give them a shout for you. Just fire me a PM and ill hit you back asap

<EDIT>

Just read Morfiends post, forgot the most important thing......skin protection and eye protection

[morfiend]

 Without seeing the brickwork or the repair it's hard to say whats best. There's been many good suggestions made and the use of acid and a wirebrush may do the job,you can get an attachment for a drill that is basically an electric wire brush and this may speed up things. Lamanating a surface of stone or manmade stone is another option and can be the quickest and easiest method,again without seeing what we're talking about.


  Chances are if the chimney needed repair,tuck and pointed,it's often a loss cause,you're better off taking it down and rebuilding it. You usually only need to take it down to just below the roof line but you should go into the attic and inspect the brick and mortar. It's best to take it down untill you have good brick and joints,if you dont then water will just penetrate the brick and or motar and start the problem all over again.

  It's not a difficult job to do,can be heavy and hard on the hands as motar is corrosive so you might consider gloves. Again without seeing the chimney I'd say putting a veneeer of some sort on it would be the quickest and easiest,but you could also cause the owner problems later on down the road because you wont see whats going on with the brick and mortar under the veneeer.


  YMMV





  

[dkff49]

Thanks for all the helpful responses fellas i knew i could count people in here.

I will probably stick my original solution, have her get a pro in there to deal with it. I told that originally since the best I could come up with chiseling and like I said did not want to risk causing more problems.

I figured I would ask about the acid since the article I read said it would work, though I had not realized they were most likely referring to recently placed mortar. This stuff likely had been more than a year if not 2.

Thanks again guys, I think you guys probably saved a great deal of headaches and possibly a displeased customer.