Replace Bricks -- Bottom Course

[cwhaley]

I live in a 1947 solid brick house. Although the builders did cut a few corners (unsurprisingly, given the shortage of resources and the horrible winter of 46/47) the house like its contemporaries - is very well built.

I've repointed brickwork on the bay and around the corners of the house where needed, and in doing so I have replaced a number of facing bricks. These were bricks on corners which had been damaged. I did this by drilling out some of the mortar and chiseling the brick out. All bar one were done very neatly (blew the face off a neighbouring brick the first time I did it!)

There are four bricks left that I would like to replace. They are on the bottom most course of bricks on a corner of the property -- what makes it tricky is that they are the header bricks and laid with the end facing the outside. Some are very deteriorated now and I want to replace with good spares I kept when we had an extension.

What's the best method for removing header bricks? Would it be by drilling the full length of the mortar bed around the brick, then chiseling out or is there an easier way?

 

[George_engineer]

I would replace them with snapped headers rather than trying to replace the whole brick.

If you are concerned about a lack of wall ties, then you could drill into the inner mortar bed and anchor in a stainless steel helical rod, which would extend into the fresh mortar bed joint. However this would likely be belt and braces, depending on the brick bond pattern.

 

[cwhaley]

I would replace them with snapped headers rather than trying to replace the whole brick.

If you are concerned about a lack of wall ties, then you could drill into the inner mortar bed and anchor in a stainless steel helical rod, which would extend into the fresh mortar bed joint. However this would likely be belt and braces, depending on the brick bond pattern.

Thanks for that -- didn't even consider snapped headers. I also should have said the walls are common bond (headers every eight courses or so).

I've attached a picture of the area of concern. The very corner of the house has a single brick I can remove. It's the bricks to the left of it where my concern lies.

I will consider the rods as belts and braces approach. They certainly weren't used in the original construction but if it adds strength it's worth it to me.

In the past, the down spout to the left (just cropped off) used to discharge rain water into a void under the old driveway! Since then it's been routed to a new soakaway, but I remember seeing this void and the erosion which had taken place to the foundations and bricks. We used to get damp in the hallway too. It's all dried up and gone now, but I think this must have contributed to the blown/eroded bricks in this pic.

 

[George_engineer]

Oh well I mentioned the rods because headers do the job of wall ties, by tying the two skins of brickwork together.

So close to the ground I wouldn't worry about it.