Mortar issues

[Bob49]

Hi,

I had an extension built in 2010 ago and I am worried about the mortar.

In quite a few places the mortar has "pulled back" from the brick, in other places small gaps have appeared in the mortar and the mortar around the gaps looks rough where elsewhere it is smooth.

Initially I was worried the mortar was too soft and falling out so I dug out a section and found that rather than soft it seems really hard. It took quite some hitting with a hammer and screwdriver to remove it. Also it is hard to remove any more mortar from the gaps, it is not at all sandy.

I have uploaded a photo of one of the gaps. You can see where the mortar is missing and also the surrounding mortar has lost it's smoothness.

Is this normal for a 8 year old wall? The other walls of my house are 60 years old and the mortar still looks really good.

My worry, and I must admit I do tend to imagine the worse, is that the whole extension will become like this over time. There are currently maybe 10 places on the wall that show similar signs.

Also in places I am still getting efflorescence, not from the bricks anymore but just on the mortar. Should this have stopped by now? There is a dpc and the efflorescence is about half way up the gable end.

My thoughts are it's:

1) Bad pointing/bad workmanship, leaving soft spots which have weakened over time.

2) Frost damage, it's a north facing gable end that receives no sunlight during the winter.

3) The mortar mix is too hard and it cannot take the normal expansion/contraction of the wall. So it's cracking and bits are falling out.

4) There is an additive in the mortar (possibly washing up liquid) that is reacting or causing the efflorescence and then somehow destroying the mortar at that point.

I am happy that the mortar seems really strong and after 8 years there is limited damage but that doesn't stop the worry.

In my mind it should be 10's of years before any mortar needs repointing, but maybe I am wrong.

I want to go back to the builder but my wife thinks he will just laugh at me and tell me to get a life, she maybe right!

Any help gratefully received, thanks.

 

[CJRatch]

I want to go back to the builder but my wife thinks he will just laugh at me and tell me to get a life, she maybe right!

Listen to your wife Bob.

You've nothing to worry about.

 

[Bob49]

Thanks, if it had been a 100 year old Victorian terrace I would not be bothered. But its only 8 years old and that's what annoys me so much!

Its not quite the worst section, I would need to get the ladders out to take better pictures.

I paid good money to what turned out to be idiots. So now when I see things like this I start to panic.

I have a suspended floor where I am certain that the builder just pushed the insulation between the joists, hoping it would just stay there. In fact some fell down while he was laying the chipboard. It should be on battens, should it not. I'm close to proving if this is the case, maybe next week.

He also left an open soil pipe and we got rats in our cavity, even though he swore blind he had capped it. In the end I had to remove part of the garage floor and see for myself. Then I knew he was a liar.

I've been thinking about all this for 8 years, so now when I see something like a little piece of missing mortar the panic starts again.

Who knows what else he did?

 

[John D v2.0]

I have a suspended floor where I am certain that the builder just pushed the insulation between the joists, hoping it would just stay there

That's one thing, but in some places ours just threw in the off cuts with no real regard for any gaps or otherwise. I had to redo a lot of it myself after they left. They did so much wrong even the architect was disappointed, after that he didn't use that builder any more due to the trouble.
You just have to fix things the best you can and move on, if you like living there then that's the main thing.
For ours the builder had to fix the worst problems and the overall layout and design were done excellently by the architect.

 

[Bob49]

That's one thing, but in some places ours just threw in the off cuts with no real regard for any gaps or otherwise. I had to redo a lot of it myself after they left. They did so much wrong even the architect was disappointed, after that he didn't use that builder any more due to the trouble.
You just have to fix things the best you can and move on, if you like living there then that's the main thing.
For ours the builder had to fix the worst problems and the overall layout and design were done excellently by the architect.

I guess you are right, depressing though, what a world