Hi all,
I'm familiar with shade-tree mechanics... not sure if shade-tree masons is actually a thing. But here goes:
There's a window above my front entry door. Under the window is a line of bricks. The mortar under that course of bricks has come loose and is falling out. See attached:
The leftmost quarter of the mortar line is actually gone, but there's a crack where the bottom edge of the mortar should attach to the bricks underneath it, that goes most of the length of the course, almost all the way to the right.
Part of me says "hire a mason to chip out the rest of the mortar and replace it properly." But, where I live, contractors charge like crazy. Just a trip charge would probably be $250 (it was this way for some minor gutter work, couple of years ago, but the same parent company). I'm guessing this is at least $500 to job out.
Part of me says: "How hard could this be? Get up there, chip out any loose bits, pack new mortar in there, shape it, then order a pizza."
I have lain ornamental bricks on an interior project once (still have my trowels and stuff! but it was 15 years ago...). But I've never done any exterior work like this, and this could be tricky to get the consistency of the mortar right, to say nothing of trying to get the color of the new stuff at least reasonably close to the old.
Any advice here? I could hire a handyman cheaper than a mason, but not sure he'd do any better than I would.
Marc
PS: I have used in the past some "mortar caulk" that is latex caulk, sanded, to appear like mortar, in other projects. The problem with those is that they stand out like a sore thumb...
I'm familiar with shade-tree mechanics... not sure if shade-tree masons is actually a thing. But here goes:
There's a window above my front entry door. Under the window is a line of bricks. The mortar under that course of bricks has come loose and is falling out. See attached:
The leftmost quarter of the mortar line is actually gone, but there's a crack where the bottom edge of the mortar should attach to the bricks underneath it, that goes most of the length of the course, almost all the way to the right.
Part of me says "hire a mason to chip out the rest of the mortar and replace it properly." But, where I live, contractors charge like crazy. Just a trip charge would probably be $250 (it was this way for some minor gutter work, couple of years ago, but the same parent company). I'm guessing this is at least $500 to job out.
Part of me says: "How hard could this be? Get up there, chip out any loose bits, pack new mortar in there, shape it, then order a pizza."
I have lain ornamental bricks on an interior project once (still have my trowels and stuff! but it was 15 years ago...). But I've never done any exterior work like this, and this could be tricky to get the consistency of the mortar right, to say nothing of trying to get the color of the new stuff at least reasonably close to the old.
Any advice here? I could hire a handyman cheaper than a mason, but not sure he'd do any better than I would.
Marc
PS: I have used in the past some "mortar caulk" that is latex caulk, sanded, to appear like mortar, in other projects. The problem with those is that they stand out like a sore thumb...