A soft-brick home is a house built with older, low-fired brick common before mid-20th century manufacturing standards, brick that's more porous and structurally weaker than modern hard-fired brick and requires lime-based mortar and gentler repair methods to avoid damage.
Plenty of homes in this region were built with brick fired at lower temperatures than what's produced now, brick that absorbs more water and has noticeably less compressive strength. A soft-brick home isn't a problem by itself, that brick has often held up for a very long time, but it changes what a mason has to do when the mortar needs attention. High-strength modern mortar or pressure washing that would be fine on a newer house can damage soft brick fast.
We identify a soft-brick home before starting any repointing or repair, because the mortar mix, cleaning method, and even the tools used to grind out old joints all need to be gentler than standard practice. Southwest Virginia's freeze-thaw winters are already hard on this kind of brick, and using the wrong mortar or method on top of that speeds up spalling instead of protecting the wall.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
