Yes it is. At least, the original slightly pre ripped or pre worn look from the 90s was over a long time ago. What is in it's place, is the homeless look. It's clothes that straight up look shredded and torn, not a few rips or frays, straight up gashes and tears. I've seen a pair of pants that look like they got taken from a dumpster go for $500.
Why are they booing you, you are right.
I saw a girl wearing jeans where both full thighs were visible and most of her ass. Almost caught her chilli ring winking at me.
It’s supposed to be a “old time rustic” look, and was popular in the 90s in new subdivisions with names like Olde Towne and Tudor Village and the like.
It looks really cool if you let moss & ferns take hold, and if you don’t like the mortar anything creeping growing there will eventually take the wall down for you.
When I was a kid Renaissance paintings depicted “plump” and “overweight” women. Now, it’s the desired look. Trends keep a changin, but in the end, they come around again
which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we...
long time ago saw a documentary were in some country people from all over the place meet once a year to sell livestock and goods, meet people from other areas and have the chance to meet someone for marriage
the journalist asked a man if he went to look for a wife and what kind of ladies he liked
the man said "I'm looking for a strong woman that can help me working in the field"
priorities😌
Believe it or not those Renaissance paintings haven't changed.
FYI, the reason that was the desired look was because it portrayed being wealthy, same as being pasty white. Funny enough, when air travel became available to the wealthy, having a tan was the desired look because only the wealthy could travel. I have no idea how ripped jeans became fashionable though.
Those tiny bumps might do a bit, but the real reason for the popularity of popcorn is that it's a whole lot faster and easier than mudding and taping drywall on the ceiling.
Edit: I'm wrong, see below.
I’ve been in construction for 30 years. I’ve hung, taped, finished and textured many many houses. Some with popcorn and some without. Houses without popcorn ceilings have considerably more echo. Popcorn doesn’t eliminate the need to tape and mud a ceiling, you’re misinformed if this is what you believe.
Popcorn covers a lot imperfections. If you are skilled it will take the same amount of time. If you are unskilled it will take the same amount of time, but it won't look as bad.
Absolutely this.
An amateur will have a better time covering the imperfections of an amateur job by spraying on a textured finish.
But anyone who’s been doing it long enough to be out of training (that is 1-2 jobs), the work takes the same effort.
Not true.
That texture is perfect for Rats, Squirrels and small children to climb upon, providing excellent grip points where, perhaps, they gain access to places otherwise inaccessible.
That's only because it is lazy shit work that somebody convinced somebody else looked cool so they could slack the fuck off instead of doing their fucking masonry job properly. This is garbage.
I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. It's a style selection that I don't prefer, is what I meant to say.
I always assumed this style of bricklaying was a mistake, the Mason was in a hurry and let the mortar harden before finishing it. Either that or the customer said how can we do this cheaper? And the answer was skipping the finishing.
My neighbor had an interior fireplace bricked with this style. He hand-chipped the whole thing off.
I think its ugly as sin.
But the bricks are laid well. It's not something anyone could do because you're still building a straight wall.
If you have any sort of muscle memory with bricklaying surely it takes more effort to ignore your instincts to actually do it right.
Its so ugly
Weeping mortar, done really well looks cool. This example here is awful. I just looked at Google pics of weeping mortar, and they ALL looked awful. I'm going to have to go back to where I grew up to show how it's supposed to be done.
Agreed. I have weeping mortar on the exterior done well, painted white - adds dimensionality to an otherwise flat-ish surface. Not for everyone but can look nice.
I whole-heartedly agree. Ive seen weeping brick that looked half decent, and here's why:
1) it had consistent "squeeze-out", meaning the mason applied the same amount of mortar and pressure with each brick
2) the brick faces were clean. Contrast between the brick and the weep actually stood out
3) the colors made sense. These colors don't match or pop, and I'm seeing a lot of "dark" in the mortar, making me wonder if it was properly mixed.
This isn't a style, it's just pretending to be.
My uncle lived in a building with, what they call it in my area, weeping mortar. My uncle infamously locks himself out of his building, shop, car, basically anything that has a lock. He lived on the second floor, and the mortar was so thick that he was actually able to climb the wall using weeping mortar to his second floor balcony. A few years ago the entire complex hired a company to come through and level all of the mortar to the face of the brick because everyone hated it.
If it's painted, it looks intentional and much better. My house has it (weeping mortar), and it's awesome. Unpainted, it looks like poor / lazy craftsmanship.
In my opinion, I'm looking and even when it's painted this honestly just looks awful to me. Looks like the house is melting or something. Would love to see an example of what you would consider "awesome" haha. I honestly think it would definitely be enough for me to not purchase a house. Some will like it though, always interesting how different tastes can be!
Feels like this was originated from a contractor that was too lazy and made a BS excuse to his client that this is the new popular style, which said client then fell for lol
Thank you guys for all the input, I had no idea this was an intentional style. To each their own I guess, but we’ve done a lot of renovation on our house and this more rustic style definitely looks out of place now.
Based on the comments, I’ll use a masonry hammer to chip the big parts away and then clean up the rest with a grinding wheel. Pressure wash it all and re-grout. Thanks again to everyone!
Also, for those who are asking here is a picture of the house when we bought it and now. You can see how it was a bit more “cottage” style and the brickwork kind of fit, but we’ve slowly been remodeling in a more mid-century modern style and the rustic masonry looks very out of place.
https://imgur.com/a/KJ9W4qr
Yeah "modern" to me is tons of black, white and gray - make the place as characterless and as boring as possible.
Stained wood was very common for mid century and is also making a comeback due to it feeling more natural and welcoming.
Well "Modern" in terms of art & architecture is 1940s-60s. Frank Lloyd Wright ranch house styles, concrete imposing high rises, or red brick with high windows. Business buildings with an overhanging 2nd storey
Postmodern architecture is the phase where colourful cladding & brick was used, and sometimes colour tinted windows, as a reaction to concrete. I saw its peak in the 1990s, every mall had a glass & iron wing-looking awning and the buildings were teal or had teal tinted windows. Buildings had shapes like kids wooden blocks Eg Mississauga Civic Centre, and Vari Hall at YorkU
I don't think the black exterior is mid-century modern though
I have seen tons of 1950s era houses with siding in colours like pale green, robins egg blue, and yellow, so your original colour may have been 1950s era
The house was built in 1966 and was originally dark blue. It was remodeled in the early 80s in pale green with a bunch of work done to make it more 50s style. We’re trying to push it back toward the 1960s look with a dark green exterior and wood accents with black trim. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we like it :)
I love the crisp edges on the topiary, probably because I could never have something like this myself because after one season it would look like total shit.
Thank you! We paid contractors to redo the roof, but aside from that we've done everything ourselves including the whole interior last year, now redoing all of the exterior. It's a ton of work but we're very proud of it and have had a lot of fun doing it.
We live in Seattle area, heat is only an issue for maybe a week or two of the year. We’ll benefit far more from it staying a little warmer in the winter and drying faster than we’ll spend on a/c.
You wrote “re-grout”. Do some research on the right product. It will probably be a mortar but there are also multiple types of mortar. Just make sure the mortar is weaker than the brick so it cracks when the time comes and not the brick. Do not use concrete.
Don't need a grinding wheel, just whack off as much of it as you can with a hammer or chisel, it will come out very easily. You can scrape it down with a spike or chisel if need be and it's fast and easy.
You could, if keeping it, plant moss and other micro plants/succulents on the ledges if you chose to keep a few of the bigger ones. May not be your style and that's totally fine, just a fun thought I had when looking at it.
Wonder how it got started. Someone went out for their first job as a brick layer. Things may have gone sideways but by the time the boss could check back in the mortar had already dried. Then everyone started doing it, lol.
We have weeping mortar like this on a single wall of our 1951 brick house. It was clearly intentionally finished this way as an accent feature near the front door. There are no schmears of mortar on the brick surfaces, though, so it looks a lot better than what you’ve got.
I get the appral but these are not the kind of bricks to do this with in my opinion or at least not as much as in the photo in my opinion. It would have looked better if it was toned down a bit and just slightly came out.
This is called a weep joint, and they're awful Imo. Not esthetically attractive, nor does it hold up well in weather. You could knock the mortar off with a hammer or chipping hammer, then grind the joints out with a grinder .5" to 3/4" deep. Then Tuckpoint back in. Voilà you're a tuckpointer .
Yep, you may wish to try a broad faced flat hammer. Gently tap the protruding grout straight on. No angles it may loosen bricks. I bet you can tap the majority of the extra grout off before you clean up with a silica carbide GRINDING wheel ( not cutting wheel). Brush down and re-grout.
Yes, chip it away with a rock hammer and then take an angle grinder with a wire wheel and use that to recess the mortar joints and make them look uniform.
It's called "weeping mortar" and popular in the southwest in the 1960's or so.
It can look good and add a sort of texture and shadow to a home.
OP's example looks off. Cheap fix: sandblast the brick surfaces and leave it at that. Or, fix any gaps then paint the entire surface.
It looks like that because that's how it was meant to look. It's called weeping mortar. I wanted to do weeping mortar on the brick accents around my house but nobody knew how to do it. The brick layers who could have done it are long ago retired or have died.
Whenever I see mortar like that, it's usually an inside of a brick wall that was up against something else. Like the building next door got demolished and exposed the hidden side of the brickwork.
You can grind the excess mortar out with a thick diamond blade and slightly in-between the joints, scrub the faces with a wire brush and water, and tuckpoint the joints with new mud and hit it with a rounded joint finishing tool
I've always loved this style of bricklaying. To each their own. My first house was done like this with various shades of different brick. It's randomness and jointing gave it a very unique look that complemented it's garden cottage style.
All you need to do is get some hydrochloric acid and a pressure washer and it'll clean that whole face off. The mortar looks fine that's just the design of how it was laid, it's just got a lot on the face of the brick.
I used to pressure wash fresh laid brick with hydrochloric (muriatic ) acid for about 10 years when I was younger. Miserable job
You could even do it without the pressure washer just get a wire brush or a real stiff brush and some hydrochloric acid and scrape it and then rinse it. Be sure to dilute the acid or it'll still stain your brick green.
I'd run a oscilating tool to cleave it off really fast. Then a grinder with something on itto give it some texture and continuity back. Maybe a wheel. Maybe a disk.
You're going to need a dust mask. Don't inhale the dust.
My house has a few planter walls and landscape walls like this. I hate it, but not enough to tear it down and redo it. My neighbor told me the previous owner did it himself and liked the "braille" mortar.
This is a blog post about a guy that removed it from his house:
[https://bloodsweatandpigsears.blogspot.com/2012/03/weeping-mortar-joints.html](https://bloodsweatandpigsears.blogspot.com/2012/03/weeping-mortar-joints.html)
Uh you could always do a facade on it after it’s done. For example if you want it to look like rocks you can place extra mortar and embed some in there.
I will never understand this style of brick laying with the extra mortar hanging out. Looks awful. Maybe gently chisel some excess off? I am not a bricklayer.
Masonry hammer. Knock off larger pieces. Clean up old mortar where you might lay new br8ck.
Go to hardware store get a crack chaser grinding wheel. Goes on an angle grinder. Use it to cut into old mortar at beds and ends. Cut deep enough so you can remortar.
Lay new bricks. Remortar beds and joints. Get a joint finish tool. Barrel jointer. Make new mortar pretty. Finish off with dry mortar brush. Scuff up mortar a bit and knock off and excess mortar on brick face.
Let dry.
Optional. Take wirebrush to brick face removing excess mortar and mortar stains. Acid wash. Wash down liberally with water.
For harder longer lasting mortar. Let dry. Mist wall the next day with water. Repeat for 7 days.
I wonder if you could power wash the mortar off the brick? Not that it would look good, but it’d sure look better lol. May have a pop of color with the brick and bright red and the mortar weeping.
try to sand it with this [https://8.allegroimg.com/original/03c8f1/8d54459a4a368d5d55bfbd2a6438/D-TARCZA-DO-SZLIFOWANIA-BETONU-GARNKOWA-TURBO-180](https://8.allegroimg.com/original/03c8f1/8d54459a4a368d5d55bfbd2a6438/D-TARCZA-DO-SZLIFOWANIA-BETONU-GARNKOWA-TURBO-180) show this picture in you local store and ask for this can of attachment best way is to rent a tool but dont put much force on bricks put safety glasses too and rent one with vacuum cleaner 2 hours and you wall will shine
When I laid brick back in the day we called them “weeping” joints (in the southern US). It was easy/challenging both because you naturally wanted to clean the mortar joint once the brick was in place with your trowel. Obviously with this joint style you couldn’t do this so you had to concentrate or pay attention a little more then normal while laying the brick. The easy part came from the fact you didn’t have to “strike” or finish the joints later with a rodder, wire brush, or roller rake. (All different tools for sealing or cleaning the joint)
Not my favorite but this is a legit style of bricklaying
People actually wanted it to look this way, at some point.
Truly the pre-ripped jeans of masonry.
That's a perfect analogy.
Stucco wall texture. This era was all about smearing shit.
> pre-ripped jeans That shit is finally out of style?
unfortunately nope. still seeing teenagers with more holes then denim
This is one of those instances where I *really* hope the use of "then" was unintended.
Yes it is. At least, the original slightly pre ripped or pre worn look from the 90s was over a long time ago. What is in it's place, is the homeless look. It's clothes that straight up look shredded and torn, not a few rips or frays, straight up gashes and tears. I've seen a pair of pants that look like they got taken from a dumpster go for $500.
I don't get the down votes. Your explanation is spot on to anyone who was self-aware after 1985.
Why are they booing you, you are right. I saw a girl wearing jeans where both full thighs were visible and most of her ass. Almost caught her chilli ring winking at me.
Damn, if only she had bent over too for ya
defo A Thing, all my granddaughters are into this.
*popcorn ceiling has entered the chat*
The popcorn ceiling actually serves a purpose beyond astetics, though. It makes rooms have less echo.
Neat I never knew that
So does a rug
I love my trusty ceiling rug
It’s supposed to be a “old time rustic” look, and was popular in the 90s in new subdivisions with names like Olde Towne and Tudor Village and the like.
Yeah, and using perfectly square bricks that were fired fresh and spotless. Looked f'in awful.
to be fair, it's really hard to rip bricks
It’s Olde Sk0o1!!!
Exactly! Since I never lived in one of those subdivisions, no wonder I love that brick. hehe
It looks really cool if you let moss & ferns take hold, and if you don’t like the mortar anything creeping growing there will eventually take the wall down for you.
When I was a kid Renaissance paintings depicted “plump” and “overweight” women. Now, it’s the desired look. Trends keep a changin, but in the end, they come around again
Rubenesque
Like Jenny Sac
I think you have that worded wrong. Back then, that was the desired look for women...that's why they were in the paintings.
I’m pretty sure he just said he’s 100s of years old.
I’m pretty sure they wore onions on their belts back then
This has been a tough trend to revive
which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we...
That's because thin meant starving, poor, and unhealthy.
Where I come from, those skinny girls barely survive the winter. Can't have a wife that might go any January now
long time ago saw a documentary were in some country people from all over the place meet once a year to sell livestock and goods, meet people from other areas and have the chance to meet someone for marriage the journalist asked a man if he went to look for a wife and what kind of ladies he liked the man said "I'm looking for a strong woman that can help me working in the field" priorities😌
I, too, am into strong women who can plow my fields... By which I mean, they can drive my tractor so I don't have to do ALL the gardening.
It’s the context that changed and thus a desire for certain traits was found in bigger fatter people… now it’s the same just thin and healthy.
Believe it or not those Renaissance paintings haven't changed. FYI, the reason that was the desired look was because it portrayed being wealthy, same as being pasty white. Funny enough, when air travel became available to the wealthy, having a tan was the desired look because only the wealthy could travel. I have no idea how ripped jeans became fashionable though.
I’m still waiting for when scratches on old minivans becomes trendy
https://www.coolthings.com/vw-van-rust-graphic-wrap/ Wait no longer
I love the internet. Thank you 🤣
Renaissance paintings are why we're fat! I knew it wasn't the mcdoubles
What’s the appeal? To me (someone who doesn’t know better) it doesn’t look nice.
Idk. Shag carpet was popular once too.
It is again, feels great to walk on and lay on. It’s just more commonly sold as rugs now.
Flokati wool rugs, yes.
It can look cool in certain applications.
those same people loved popcorn ceilings.
That is what I heard as well. The popcorn ceiling of brick laying
Popcorn ceilings are actually functional sound dampeners. This is useless in terms of functionality.
Those tiny bumps might do a bit, but the real reason for the popularity of popcorn is that it's a whole lot faster and easier than mudding and taping drywall on the ceiling. Edit: I'm wrong, see below.
You still mud and tape the drywall, you just don't have to do it as perfectly.
I’ve been in construction for 30 years. I’ve hung, taped, finished and textured many many houses. Some with popcorn and some without. Houses without popcorn ceilings have considerably more echo. Popcorn doesn’t eliminate the need to tape and mud a ceiling, you’re misinformed if this is what you believe.
I've been misinformed. Do you still have to exercise the same care or can you get away with doing a faster and rougher job?
Popcorn covers a lot imperfections. If you are skilled it will take the same amount of time. If you are unskilled it will take the same amount of time, but it won't look as bad.
Absolutely this. An amateur will have a better time covering the imperfections of an amateur job by spraying on a textured finish. But anyone who’s been doing it long enough to be out of training (that is 1-2 jobs), the work takes the same effort.
Not true. That texture is perfect for Rats, Squirrels and small children to climb upon, providing excellent grip points where, perhaps, they gain access to places otherwise inaccessible.
You forgot the roaches
Really? You learn something new every day
When someone says it, it seems obvious that’s the benefit, but I never would have realized otherwise.
We used to call it weeping joints. Never liked it and thought it always looked like shit.
That's only because it is lazy shit work that somebody convinced somebody else looked cool so they could slack the fuck off instead of doing their fucking masonry job properly. This is garbage. I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. It's a style selection that I don't prefer, is what I meant to say.
I always assumed this style of bricklaying was a mistake, the Mason was in a hurry and let the mortar harden before finishing it. Either that or the customer said how can we do this cheaper? And the answer was skipping the finishing. My neighbor had an interior fireplace bricked with this style. He hand-chipped the whole thing off.
I always assumed this style wasn't meant to be seen, like a chimney behind the walls
That's what I always thought too...
How much time does it really save tho? I’ve seen skilled masons smooth out mortar down the whole new layer in seconds.
You know, I have no idea. It might even be harder to get a consistent "weep".
I think its ugly as sin. But the bricks are laid well. It's not something anyone could do because you're still building a straight wall. If you have any sort of muscle memory with bricklaying surely it takes more effort to ignore your instincts to actually do it right. Its so ugly
I’ve never done it, but that’s what I always thought. I’d probably keep cutting the mud off without thinking and have to re lay the brick
Said what I was thinking.
I appreciate your passion and convitction.
Weeping mortar, done really well looks cool. This example here is awful. I just looked at Google pics of weeping mortar, and they ALL looked awful. I'm going to have to go back to where I grew up to show how it's supposed to be done.
I was gonna comment, a cursory search made me feeling queazy
>This example here is awful. I call this the ‘sobbing mason’.
she slobs on my mason til I weep
Agreed. I have weeping mortar on the exterior done well, painted white - adds dimensionality to an otherwise flat-ish surface. Not for everyone but can look nice.
Agreed that it looks sloppy. I prefer "entresacado" or "terminado raqueado" but I'm not sure what it's called in English.
Only correct answer. Both of em.
It looks less like an intentional style, and more like the mason was too lazy to do a complete job.
I whole-heartedly agree. Ive seen weeping brick that looked half decent, and here's why: 1) it had consistent "squeeze-out", meaning the mason applied the same amount of mortar and pressure with each brick 2) the brick faces were clean. Contrast between the brick and the weep actually stood out 3) the colors made sense. These colors don't match or pop, and I'm seeing a lot of "dark" in the mortar, making me wonder if it was properly mixed. This isn't a style, it's just pretending to be.
My uncle lived in a building with, what they call it in my area, weeping mortar. My uncle infamously locks himself out of his building, shop, car, basically anything that has a lock. He lived on the second floor, and the mortar was so thick that he was actually able to climb the wall using weeping mortar to his second floor balcony. A few years ago the entire complex hired a company to come through and level all of the mortar to the face of the brick because everyone hated it.
It looks like someone learned how to sell half-assed work as a style choice.
Yeah there a few houses in my neighbourhood like this
I was about to come say this. I personally hate this look.
If it's painted, it looks intentional and much better. My house has it (weeping mortar), and it's awesome. Unpainted, it looks like poor / lazy craftsmanship.
Can you post a photo of how it look?
I'll have to make a trip, but yes.
In my opinion, I'm looking and even when it's painted this honestly just looks awful to me. Looks like the house is melting or something. Would love to see an example of what you would consider "awesome" haha. I honestly think it would definitely be enough for me to not purchase a house. Some will like it though, always interesting how different tastes can be!
Yes, I saw it everywhere when I lived in GA. I hate it so much. 😆
Feels like this was originated from a contractor that was too lazy and made a BS excuse to his client that this is the new popular style, which said client then fell for lol
Is it the "save money by doing no clean up" method?
A lazy style
Don’t you stagger the front and back row?
this changed my life. i had no idea people did this intentionally. i thought it was just... bad.
Wasn’t it to provide a better substrate for plaster?
I believe they are called weeping joints. I had them on my house, and I just used a masonry hammer to chip them off and clean them up.
Weeping joints? I'd be fucking weeping if I'd paid for it
I’d be weeping and then I’d need a joint.
You'll get two types of stoned my friend.
2 birds stoned at once
A toad a so.
A fucken a toad a so.
Make like a tree and frig off Randy
It’s a stylistic choice. They can look pretty cool in certain applications.
‘They can look pretty cool in certain applications.’ \- Stoned designers, probably.
I see what you did there
The way this made me laugh 😭
Thank you guys for all the input, I had no idea this was an intentional style. To each their own I guess, but we’ve done a lot of renovation on our house and this more rustic style definitely looks out of place now. Based on the comments, I’ll use a masonry hammer to chip the big parts away and then clean up the rest with a grinding wheel. Pressure wash it all and re-grout. Thanks again to everyone!
Also, for those who are asking here is a picture of the house when we bought it and now. You can see how it was a bit more “cottage” style and the brickwork kind of fit, but we’ve slowly been remodeling in a more mid-century modern style and the rustic masonry looks very out of place. https://imgur.com/a/KJ9W4qr
I would have thought that a brick & woodgrain combo were mid century. The black looks current style to me
Yeah "modern" to me is tons of black, white and gray - make the place as characterless and as boring as possible. Stained wood was very common for mid century and is also making a comeback due to it feeling more natural and welcoming.
Well "Modern" in terms of art & architecture is 1940s-60s. Frank Lloyd Wright ranch house styles, concrete imposing high rises, or red brick with high windows. Business buildings with an overhanging 2nd storey Postmodern architecture is the phase where colourful cladding & brick was used, and sometimes colour tinted windows, as a reaction to concrete. I saw its peak in the 1990s, every mall had a glass & iron wing-looking awning and the buildings were teal or had teal tinted windows. Buildings had shapes like kids wooden blocks Eg Mississauga Civic Centre, and Vari Hall at YorkU
We actually are adding exposed wood accents, just haven’t gotten to that part yet. Still in the process of painting the exterior.
I don't think the black exterior is mid-century modern though I have seen tons of 1950s era houses with siding in colours like pale green, robins egg blue, and yellow, so your original colour may have been 1950s era
The house was built in 1966 and was originally dark blue. It was remodeled in the early 80s in pale green with a bunch of work done to make it more 50s style. We’re trying to push it back toward the 1960s look with a dark green exterior and wood accents with black trim. Might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we like it :)
I love the crisp edges on the topiary, probably because I could never have something like this myself because after one season it would look like total shit.
Thanks, 100% of the credit for that goes to our gardener who trims the bushes a few times a year. Dude is an artist.
Solid hedgework my guy
Wow you did a great job. Looks awesome!
Thank you! We paid contractors to redo the roof, but aside from that we've done everything ourselves including the whole interior last year, now redoing all of the exterior. It's a ton of work but we're very proud of it and have had a lot of fun doing it.
How to double your air conditioning bill in one easy step...
We live in Seattle area, heat is only an issue for maybe a week or two of the year. We’ll benefit far more from it staying a little warmer in the winter and drying faster than we’ll spend on a/c.
Dang that is some clean shrubbery. Edward Scissorhands would approve
You wrote “re-grout”. Do some research on the right product. It will probably be a mortar but there are also multiple types of mortar. Just make sure the mortar is weaker than the brick so it cracks when the time comes and not the brick. Do not use concrete.
Don't need a grinding wheel, just whack off as much of it as you can with a hammer or chisel, it will come out very easily. You can scrape it down with a spike or chisel if need be and it's fast and easy.
Use eye protection! Foresight is better than no sight.
use a wide flat chisel
I used a wire brush on a drill and it worked perfectly
You could, if keeping it, plant moss and other micro plants/succulents on the ledges if you chose to keep a few of the bigger ones. May not be your style and that's totally fine, just a fun thought I had when looking at it.
Back in the 70s, this was the style.
And it looks like shit, just like popcorn ceilings, baffles me that someone liked these stuff.
Explains it looking like white dog poo
Wonder how it got started. Someone went out for their first job as a brick layer. Things may have gone sideways but by the time the boss could check back in the mortar had already dried. Then everyone started doing it, lol.
We have weeping mortar like this on a single wall of our 1951 brick house. It was clearly intentionally finished this way as an accent feature near the front door. There are no schmears of mortar on the brick surfaces, though, so it looks a lot better than what you’ve got.
This is called a weeping mortar joint. I don't like it but it's a thing.
this is what my brick laying always looks likes, I thought it was because I’m an amateur! Turns out I’m just an absolute master at the weeping joint
This style is known as bleeding brick where I’m from I like it.
I get the appral but these are not the kind of bricks to do this with in my opinion or at least not as much as in the photo in my opinion. It would have looked better if it was toned down a bit and just slightly came out.
More like, Bleedin' hell chief!
It's a good name. Bleeding Brick just like my Bleeding Eyes.
Just curious... what part of your house is this that has a sort of free standing wall?
This is called a weep joint, and they're awful Imo. Not esthetically attractive, nor does it hold up well in weather. You could knock the mortar off with a hammer or chipping hammer, then grind the joints out with a grinder .5" to 3/4" deep. Then Tuckpoint back in. Voilà you're a tuckpointer .
I’ve seen houses in my community with mortar like that. I guess it was the thing back then.
Where is the rest of your house?
Back in the day, when those bricks were put down, this was the preferred style of the house. We're looking from within OP's living room.
Grinder with masony blade and a rake tool. Then repoint it. Gonna be long aand friggin tedious but doable.
Yep, you may wish to try a broad faced flat hammer. Gently tap the protruding grout straight on. No angles it may loosen bricks. I bet you can tap the majority of the extra grout off before you clean up with a silica carbide GRINDING wheel ( not cutting wheel). Brush down and re-grout.
Weeping mortar technique.
That was done intentionally
Yes, chip it away with a rock hammer and then take an angle grinder with a wire wheel and use that to recess the mortar joints and make them look uniform.
It's called "weeping mortar" and popular in the southwest in the 1960's or so. It can look good and add a sort of texture and shadow to a home. OP's example looks off. Cheap fix: sandblast the brick surfaces and leave it at that. Or, fix any gaps then paint the entire surface.
It looks like that because that's how it was meant to look. It's called weeping mortar. I wanted to do weeping mortar on the brick accents around my house but nobody knew how to do it. The brick layers who could have done it are long ago retired or have died.
Whenever I see mortar like that, it's usually an inside of a brick wall that was up against something else. Like the building next door got demolished and exposed the hidden side of the brickwork.
You can grind the excess mortar out with a thick diamond blade and slightly in-between the joints, scrub the faces with a wire brush and water, and tuckpoint the joints with new mud and hit it with a rounded joint finishing tool
Maybe could u chip away some of it? Or sand it?
Don't they clean up with an acid after laying bricks? .......although they don't normally leave them this dirty while wet.
I've always loved this style of bricklaying. To each their own. My first house was done like this with various shades of different brick. It's randomness and jointing gave it a very unique look that complemented it's garden cottage style.
All you need to do is get some hydrochloric acid and a pressure washer and it'll clean that whole face off. The mortar looks fine that's just the design of how it was laid, it's just got a lot on the face of the brick. I used to pressure wash fresh laid brick with hydrochloric (muriatic ) acid for about 10 years when I was younger. Miserable job You could even do it without the pressure washer just get a wire brush or a real stiff brush and some hydrochloric acid and scrape it and then rinse it. Be sure to dilute the acid or it'll still stain your brick green.
Was that build by Stevie Wonder? Is this just an outside wall not attached to the home?
It is attached to the house, the part I took a picture of just protrudes a couple feet past the house’s edge.
You could plaster over the brickwork to cover it up.
Hire a real mason to fix it
It's like that by design.
Ware and a brush and leave it alone
They do make a cleaner that works. Check at your local hardware store.
Re face with something nice after smoothing the surface with an air chisel and grinder
I'd run a oscilating tool to cleave it off really fast. Then a grinder with something on itto give it some texture and continuity back. Maybe a wheel. Maybe a disk. You're going to need a dust mask. Don't inhale the dust.
Beautiful keys. I bet the plaster work is impeccable
How much time do you have and how strong are your forearms for grinding
My house has a few planter walls and landscape walls like this. I hate it, but not enough to tear it down and redo it. My neighbor told me the previous owner did it himself and liked the "braille" mortar.
I would assume you could use some sort of rotary cleaning tool to shave off the extra mortar. anyone got a good tool recommendation for this?
Is this the inboard side? And does the other side look like this too? This looks like the blind side of a wall
Maybe this advice will help you [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20RQxQ\_Wf1U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20RQxQ_Wf1U)
This is a blog post about a guy that removed it from his house: [https://bloodsweatandpigsears.blogspot.com/2012/03/weeping-mortar-joints.html](https://bloodsweatandpigsears.blogspot.com/2012/03/weeping-mortar-joints.html)
No style of bricklaying I’ve ever seen lol, just knock the mortar off with a hammer and bolster and re joint it
Squash mortar is what they called it down here.
In Canada we call that weeping mortar. I can’t say I am a fan.
Folk have to practice some places, you just happened to be the person owning the wall.
Don't eye roll me much, but I like it!
You might be able to clean up some of it with a bottle brush and a drill
Uh you could always do a facade on it after it’s done. For example if you want it to look like rocks you can place extra mortar and embed some in there.
I will never understand this style of brick laying with the extra mortar hanging out. Looks awful. Maybe gently chisel some excess off? I am not a bricklayer.
You can use grinder if you want to chip out those weeping brick style.
Masonry hammer. Knock off larger pieces. Clean up old mortar where you might lay new br8ck. Go to hardware store get a crack chaser grinding wheel. Goes on an angle grinder. Use it to cut into old mortar at beds and ends. Cut deep enough so you can remortar. Lay new bricks. Remortar beds and joints. Get a joint finish tool. Barrel jointer. Make new mortar pretty. Finish off with dry mortar brush. Scuff up mortar a bit and knock off and excess mortar on brick face. Let dry. Optional. Take wirebrush to brick face removing excess mortar and mortar stains. Acid wash. Wash down liberally with water. For harder longer lasting mortar. Let dry. Mist wall the next day with water. Repeat for 7 days.
Calcite is susceptible to acid attack, but it would likely weaken the whole structure.
Maybe put a wall feature on top or let ivy grow over it.
It’s a time honored style from the 60’s Only the most talented master bricklayers did it. Mixed their own mortar too to get the right moisture. No cap
yes, remove part of it and reaply some special mortar. A hell of a job, especially the removal, but worth it..
I wonder if you could power wash the mortar off the brick? Not that it would look good, but it’d sure look better lol. May have a pop of color with the brick and bright red and the mortar weeping.
Watch the bricklayer
try to sand it with this [https://8.allegroimg.com/original/03c8f1/8d54459a4a368d5d55bfbd2a6438/D-TARCZA-DO-SZLIFOWANIA-BETONU-GARNKOWA-TURBO-180](https://8.allegroimg.com/original/03c8f1/8d54459a4a368d5d55bfbd2a6438/D-TARCZA-DO-SZLIFOWANIA-BETONU-GARNKOWA-TURBO-180) show this picture in you local store and ask for this can of attachment best way is to rent a tool but dont put much force on bricks put safety glasses too and rent one with vacuum cleaner 2 hours and you wall will shine
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErfENugXk20&t=160s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErfENugXk20&t=160s) this tool is for this work
All the Tudor houses in my neighborhood growing up had brickwork done exactly like this. Some love it, others hate it.
When I laid brick back in the day we called them “weeping” joints (in the southern US). It was easy/challenging both because you naturally wanted to clean the mortar joint once the brick was in place with your trowel. Obviously with this joint style you couldn’t do this so you had to concentrate or pay attention a little more then normal while laying the brick. The easy part came from the fact you didn’t have to “strike” or finish the joints later with a rodder, wire brush, or roller rake. (All different tools for sealing or cleaning the joint)
How much of this would you have to do?