Bricks fell from wall

[powernun]

Hi everyone,

I have stripped the plaster from the external wall of my bathroom, and I am preparing it for tiling (using multiboard). This is on a 1930s standard brick wall with crumbly lime mortar in some spots.

There is a 42cm wide x 32cm high gap at the bottom of the brick wall. I believe it was intended for underfloor ventilation, as there's a nearby vent, and for running electrical cables. While cleaning the wall, some bricks above the gap came loose as the mortar was barely holding them in place. I used fresh mortar to secure them, but I'm still concerned they could come loose again and affect the wall structure, which could in turn cause the tiles to crack.

Any ideas on what I could use to make it hold up under the weight? Would a galvanised steel angle work to spread the weight and provide support? Or am I just overthinking this, and fresh mortar is good enough, given that it held up for a few decades before I stripped the wall?

 

[Wayners]

Use lime mortar to repair bricks

 

[powernun]

Use lime mortar to repair bricks

Yep, makes sense.

Would the bricks need to be supported in any other way, other than with the mortar above them? The yellow full brick and the half brick to its left are currently unsupported, which makes me think they might eventually collapse. At the same time, supporting them means blocking up more of the air bricks, which I don't think is good to do either.

 

[^woody^]

It needs support. Walls move and joints contract and expand as they dry and absorb moisture.

Can you drop a brick on end in the opening and pack with slate? Or a similar concept with a plastic or non-ferrous tube (bit of pipe) just to support that one brick?

 

[powernun]

It needs support. Walls move and joints contract and expand as they dry and absorb moisture.

Can you drop a brick on end in the opening and pack with slate? Or a similar concept with a plastic or non-ferrous tube (bit of pipe) just to support that one brick?

Yes, there should be enough space to place a brick vertically on either side.

On the left side, there is a small slab with DPM, where I'm guessing the bricks used to be before the electrician hacked them away to get the cables through. On the right side in the ground, so I guess I should also put some DPM on it and put the brick vertically on top of it with mortar. I don't have slate on hand, but I have tiles that would do the trick.

So maybe from the ground up something like:

- Ground (concrete)
- DPM
- Mortar
- Brick vertically
- Dry pack mortar
- Tile
- Yellow brick from picture

 

[^woody^]

You may only need one brick, possibly turned sideways to maximise the gap ether side?

Placed centrally if it needs to catch two bricks, or just under the end of the one it needs to catch otherwise.

Slate can be used to dry pack, to form a tight wedge if mortar is too much trouble.

Yes, a bit of DPC (or slate) if the existing DPC would be bridged.