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Bob visits the Sumner Mansion with UVM professor Tom Visser to learn more about the proper restoration and preservation procedures for an antique brick home. The original early 1800s brick has been sandblasted - removing the outside fire skin of the brick to reveal the soft inner core - leaving the brick permanently damaged. The only option now it to re-point it up and re-paint it. Care should be taken with masonry sealers as they can often trap moisture in the wall and lead to accelerate spalling of the bricks. If you have paint on old brick walls, your best option is to use a commercial paint remover such as a caustic soda, a Peel-Away type product, or even a solvent-based stripper. As for repairing the mortar, very often people patch and re-point using a Portland Cement mortar. This is not a good choice as it stands out like a sore thumb and is too hard for the bricks - putting stress on them and causing them to fail. To select the right mortar to use, loosen a sampling of the original mortar with a mason's chisel, crush it with a geologist's mortar and pestle, and then dissolve the lime binder with household distilled white vinegar. What will settle in the bottom of your jar is the sand from which the mortar was originally made. You can then take the sand to a mason and match its color and texture and make up new lime and sand mortar to match the original.

Tim Berky, the general contractor on the Victorian remodel in Rowley, Massachusetts, explains the sequence of exterior demolition and foundation work to Bob. The first task is to contact Dig Safe to get clearance to excavate outside the existing back entrance to the home. Berky cuts into the existing driveway so that they can dig out the foundation and steps without damaging the rest of the driveway. The concrete stairs need to be removed, but it's important to maintain the foundation. Berky first excavates around the base of the stairs and uses a jack hammer to see if the stairs are poured against the foundation or independent of it. The crew discovers they are poured against the brick foundation and brings a large excavator with a pneumatic hammer to break up the stairs and to pull them away from the foundation. Berky will excavate to 48 inches deep to ensure that the new foundation wall is below the frost line.

…tools and some mortar to make an old brick wall look like new. Step 1: Remove the old mortar Use a brick hammer and a chisel to remove the old mortar…
…new mortar will bond well to the brick. Replace any soft or decomposing…

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