Older Fort Langley brick was laid with soft mortar. Use the wrong mix on a repair and you can crack the brick. Here's why.
Fort Langley has some of the oldest masonry in the township, and older brick comes with a catch most people don't know about: the mortar matters as much as the brick. Use the wrong mix to repoint an old wall and you can do more damage than the weather ever did.
Old brick was laid with soft mortar
Decades ago, brick was laid with soft lime-based mortar. That softness was a feature, not a flaw. The mortar was meant to be weaker than the brick, so when the wall moved or expanded, the mortar joint took the stress and the brick stayed safe. The joint could crack and be repointed cheaply, while the brick lasted.
Modern Portland-cement mortar is much harder. It's great for new builds, but on an old wall it flips the relationship. Now the mortar is stronger than the brick, so when the wall moves, the soft old brick takes the stress instead. The result is cracked and spalling brick, which is expensive to replace and often impossible to match.
Why this trips people up
A repointing job with the wrong mortar looks fine the day it's finished. The damage shows up a season or two later when the brick starts to crack and crumble. By then the hard mortar is locked in and the harm is done.
This is why matching the mortar to the wall matters so much on heritage homes around Fort Langley. It isn't just about colour. It's about using a mix soft enough to protect the original brick.
Doing it right
Repointing an older wall the right way means:
- Matching the mortar type to the age and softness of the brick
- Raking out the old joints to a proper depth without chipping the brick
- Tinting the new mortar to match the original colour
- Tooling the joints to match the original profile
- Keeping the brick the strongest part of the wall, the way it was built
Respecting the original
Older homes have character that's worth protecting, and the masonry is a big part of that. A repointing job done with the right mortar keeps the wall looking original and standing for another few decades.
If you've got an older brick home around Fort Langley with mortar that's gone soft, give us a call. We'll match the mix to the wall and do it once, properly.