Decomposing Mortar?

[browndog]

I didn`t note the colour, just the fact that some sort of ancient Viking sacrificial act was in preparation.
What size motor was yours?

brown band mercury 90hp, I actually gave the neighbours nut tree a severe prune back to the fence line and chucked everything over the fence as the law states, that was what was in the background.

Thread hijack over, back to the mortar.

 

[stillscottish]

I didn`t note the colour, just the fact that some sort of ancient Viking sacrificial act was in preparation.

Yes.
Just getting ready for Up Helly Aa :lol:

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Back to the mortar

Spoke to a an old brickie today, over a few beers

His basic diagnosise that was

A The mortar has been in a damp situation drawing up mineral salts from the the foundations or from the bricks and you have changed the airflow and allowed the mortar to dry out. Salt will kill mortar

B You have a section of mortar that was not mixed proberly, "ie the bloke mixing the mud forgot to add enough cement", which does happen, but never talked about.

Not much you can do, but did sugest that if it was soft, scrapae it out and re-mortar it

He also went onto explain that some bricks are "wetter" than others...ie... A brick may appear dry, but they still contain enough moister to draw out the mineral salts from the brick when layed with wet mortar

 

[stillscottish]

I had a look at the wall yesterday.
There's hardly any sand on it since the last clean and when I scrape the joints they're all pretty hard so it looks like it's stabilising.

I would say it's been a combination of not enough cement in the mortar to start with and the change in airflow over the brickwork.

Bob the Fe%^%^n Builder over and out.