Q: I have a 45-year-old house built with adobe bricks that originally had black mortar used in between the bricks. Over time, the mortar faded from black to almost white. I was told that I could ...

The beauty of brick being a building material with a rich color is that if you like that color, there’s no need to deal with paint, wallpaper, or other wall coverings. But if the color of the brick on ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Do you know what “repointing” bricks means? By definition, it consists of “removing a portion of the deteriorated mortar and redoing the joints with new mortar.” Doing that basically ...

"White scum," or a more common condition known as efflorescence, is responsible for the whiteish staining seen on brick walls. White scum is a condition that surfaces if brick is cleaned too early ...

Q:I just read your column on staining concrete driveways. I have a similar problem but my driveway is blacktop. I have a 60-year-old red brick home. The mortar was cracking and eroding between some of ...

Vanadium stains are evident by a yellow- green discolouration on the face of a brick resulting from the vanadium salts which are naturally present in most clays used to produce light coloured bricks.

Iron or rust stains, as they are commonly called, are usually yellow to deep brown. They are more noticeable on cream or light coloured bricks. ‘Acid burn’ or rust stains can be caused by insufficient ...