Why use brick sealant?

We have talked a lot about the different types of masonry issues your property may experience throughout our last few blogs. Education is important when it comes to anything we do in life, and your masonry is no exception to that. If you own a home or building, you understand the importance of masonry care. And our goal is to help you better understand the warning signs to keep an eye out for, and the proper maintenance masonry needs. One of the most cost-effective preventative measures to take when thinking of masonry maintenance is a quality, breathable, brick sealing solution. First, let’s review the various warning signs on different types of masonry.

Water is masonry’s worst enemy. It is often the initial cause for an array of different masonry issues. We all know how absolutely powerful water can be. It penetrates everything it comes in contact with, including your masonry. Over time water will slowly deteriorate your mortar causing it to recede and crumble. This leads to weaknesses in your brick or foundation allowing water to come into your home or building, or even fall apart, leaving you with interior issues too.

If water has already begun to cause wear and tear on your masonry, here are some things you will begin to notice. You could have stair-step cracking in the brick on your exterior. It can be as minor as a small crack or go halfway across an outside exterior wall at your house. If this has happened, your brick has become weak and needs immediate attention.

Dark looking wet spots are another thing to look for. These are the areas in the masonry where water has gotten in, along with dirt, and other debris. Slowly this continues to deteriorate from the within and leads to deterioration on the outside as well.

Cracked or broken bricks anywhere on your masonry are an obvious sign that maintenance on your masonry is past due. This means the water has eroded the mortar and brick so much that it has begun falling apart. This will eventually cause part of a wall to fall out when you least expect it and could lead to other structural issues.

As these types of issues continue, they can also cause your masonry to become weak enough that the property will begin to settle. Once the water has eroded the masonry to a point that it has become too weak, the weight of the existing home or building will be too much to bear and settling will begin to occur. If your home or building begins to settle this can lead to many more costly repairs involving interior walls. You could end up with thousands in damage that our brick sealant solution could have prevented.

So then, you may be wondering, what is a brick sealant? It is a product we use that will fill up the pores within your masonry and harden. This process allows for the product to both seal your masonry and repel water from the masonry that is already in place. It will minimize the areas available for water to penetrate and strengthen your masonry all at the same time.

How often should you use brick sealant? This depends on your masonry. If you have a more porous masonry, you should apply it about every 3 years. If it is a harder masonry material, you can wait closer to the 5-year mark. It is a very cost-effective, easy way to extend the life of your masonry, and save you money in the long-run!

It is important to use a sealant that allows your masonry to keep breathing though. If you do not use a breathable sealant, it will actually not allow the moisture out, keeping the water sealed in. This will lead to continued deterioration and further problems. A classic example of this is when people try to use paint. This is not a good option to attempt to seal your masonry.

We have several different sealants to choose from that will best fit your masonry. It is important to choose the sealant that will work most efficiently with the masonry your property already has. We can walk you through the different options and help you understand what is the best fit and why it is. As we mentioned at the top, education is very important to us. We want to inform our customers, not just sell them something!

Force Masonry offers a quality, breathable brick sealing solution that will provide the protection your masonry needs from water. It has been a very wet spring for us and would be a great time to have this done! Don’t wait until you start noticing problems that will cost you more during a season that is more inconvenient to deal with such problems. Call 309-642-5332 today for an estimate!