Saw a brick archway in Savannah that's bugging me

It's on a historic house off Jones Street, and the mortar joints look way too thin for the age of the bricks. The whole thing seems like a modern repair that doesn't match the original work. Has anyone run into a situation like this on a restoration job?

3 comments

3 Comments

jennifer20425d ago

Ugh, that is SO frustrating to spot. Here is a weird angle, what if the thin mortar is actually OLD? I read that some early 19th century builders used shell-based lime mortar that was mixed super fine. It could have worn down over centuries to look like a modern joint. A true modern repair with portland cement would probably look chunkier and wrong in a different way. Might be worth asking a local historian if that was a local method.

barbarah1924d ago

You know, I always just assumed thin joints meant a bad modern fix. But what @jennifer204 said about old shell-based mortar makes a lot of sense. It would wear down thin over time, while a new cement patch would look thick and messy. I saw something similar on an old factory wall here, and it turned out to be the original work. Might be worth checking with someone who knows the local building history.

alicehernandez24d ago

Jennifer204 might be onto something, because I've seen old brickwork with joints so thin they looked like pencil lines.