Construction and maintenance issues

Brick is a low-cost, fire resistant, and attractive building material that has long been in demand.

But brick is not fail-safe. Brick walls can fail due to freeze/thaw damage, florescence, corrosion of metal supports or differential movement between a brick wall and its structural support, among other reasons. Water, in the end, is the common source of most of this trouble.

When water freezes, it expands. If this expansion takes place in the pore spaces of a brick or between brick and mortar, cracks are likely to form and grow. These cracks allow more water to penetrate, causing more cracking during the next expansion phase.

The cycle repeats increasing the severity of the cracking, until the damage is repaired or the wall fails completely. Regular inspection and repair can alleviate this cycle.

Water also carries salts into walls, either leached from cement in the mortar or percolated from the ground. As the water evaporates, salt crystals (florescence) form either on the surface of the brick (efflorescence) or within the pores of the brick (cryptoflorescence). Efflorescence is unsightly, but does not usually damage brick by itself. Cryptoflorescence, however, can seal water in brick pores, casing water expansion damage, or it can damage the brick directly as the salt crystals expand. These problems can be avoided through specification of proper materials, sound design, close construction supervision, and a good maintenance program.