Strange Attack on one single Brick in my cellar!

[Mikefromlondon]

I have one brick in my cellar, trouble is it not accessible easily as a floor joist is running in front of it about an inch in front! so i cannot see it clearly, but if I give it a peek, from the gap, I can see the face of the brick is getting hollower, as if someone has been scarping material out of it!

There is a heap of very fine orange powder collecting on the floor below this brick, When I hoover this dust, in a few weeks time there is a more of it! it keeps coming back again and again,

I don't know what it is, is it some brick disease, some kind of attack like dry rot? I didn't think bricks can get dry rot, so what is it and how can I curb it before it might spread to the rest of the bricks and my house gets eaten alive in a few years time! what kind of insects are these?

 

[^woody^]

Probably a weevel ....... I don't think we've all had such a funny question for ages

 

[JohnD]

it's just an eroded, soft old brick. Perhaps you live in quite an old house, and scientific brickmaking and quality control fell short of what is possible today. If you want you can cut it out and put in a new one, some people would try to patch it wth mortar.

It is not ususual. If you take a stiff brush to the wall you may find other perished bricks.

It might have suffered from water penetration in the past.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Thanks John, yes it started to worry me a bit as the brick is just trurning into powder, and yes it may well have had water penetration at one time or another in the past, the bricks are soft and put together with clay, 1930s Victorian houses!

It is just hard to get to it, I will have to remove the floor joist supporting the ground floor boards, and this joist runs along the wall and is only about an inch away, through which I can just about see the brick getting eroded away, this seems to be the only brick in the whole house that seems effected this bad that within weeks there is a heap of this fine powder.

But may be I will get some time and remove the joist and tackle the rot or whatever and patch it up or remove and replace the brick.

 

[Nigel_Cro]

1930s Victorian houses!

Ok - so history was never my strong point but.......

 

[Mikefromlondon]

1930s Victorian houses!

Ok - so history was never my strong point but.......

That was quite interesting!
Actually I was never good at history and hated it! but now it makes sense to have studied it in depth!

I have always thought that most of London's housing stock was from that period, may be I am wrong, and could it be Edwardian style then? I still don't know tbh! Might be worth giving my local town hall a ring and find out truly from what period these houses belong!

but here is an interesting piece on history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era

 

[TheVictorian]

My house was built in 1879 and has a handful of bricks in the cellar doing what you have described.

The best thing is to replace them, without a doubt.

However, over a year ago I patched a couple with mortar primarily to stop them disintergrating and it has been totally fine.

If you had lots of bricks disintergrating then I'd be replacing them. But for the odd one I personally don't see any harm in patching the front with some mortar.

 

[Nige F]

I have one brick in my cellar, I don't know what it is, is it some brick disease, some kind of attack like dry rot? ?

It`s just an under burned brick .

 

[tony1851]

I think this is more serious than some posters would have you believe. It's known as 'brick-rot syndrome' in the trade. If not treated, the rot can spread to adjacent bricks and before you know it, the whole house is inffected.

The best treatment is to cover the affected brick for 24 hours with a warm towel soaked in Dettol. Then thoroughly rinse the affected brick with clear water and allow to dry. If this doesn't cure it, the brick will have to be removed and replaced. Try curemydiseasedbrickwork.com for further help.
Tere is also a 24-hour helpline manned by sympathetic volunteers.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

I think this is more serious than some posters would have you believe. It's known as 'brick-rot syndrome' in the trade. If not treated, the rot can spread to adjacent bricks and before you know it, the whole house is inffected.

The best treatment is to cover the affected brick for 24 hours with a warm towel soaked in Dettol. Then thoroughly rinse the affected brick with clear water and allow to dry. If this doesn't cure it, the brick will have to be removed and replaced. Try curemydiseasedbrickwork.com for further help.
Tere is also a 24-hour helpline manned by sympathetic volunteers.

Sounds good, Dettol is a common household disinfectant, I have some , howver, just asking if could equally use Domestos thick bleach, could it be even better? or is it too corrosive? and what about white spirt? as that stuff could kill most things as well and could stay soaked for a longer time.

I could get the Dettol into a spray bottle and squirt at the brick which is hard to get to as the joist runs in front of it just an inch away.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Probably a weevel ....... I don't think we've all had such a funny question for ages

I think you deserve a pat as well, for coming up with a weevel, and now the Dettol should stop this grinding down my brick!

 

[joinerjohn]

Weevels Brick-Rot Syndrome Sympathetic Volunteers, manning a 24hr helpline
I've heard it all now.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

when I saw the word Dettol! my eyes rolled out of their socket!

 

[tony1851]

Stop worrying about it; as Nige F said it's just an under-fired brick. No point in taking the adjacent joist out eithr just to get at it. Leave it alone; if it crumbles away completely, the house won't fall down.

 

[tony1851]

Stop worrying about it; as Nige F said it's just an under-fired brick. No point in taking the adjacent joist out eithr just to get at it. Leave it alone; if it crumbles away completely, the house won't fall down.