Homeowners like having a perfectly designed patio where they can eat breakfast, read books, or sit peacefully. When you have a patio, you must ensure its stability and durability. With regular maintenance and repair work, you can make sure that the patio is in good condition. If there are any signs of damage, you need to get repair work done immediately. If you delay the repair work, the problem will aggravate.
If you have a brick patio, and it needs repair work, professionals can revamp the appearance of the brick patio and enhance its overall strength. They have the knowledge and the experience to handle brick patio repair.
These are some of the steps that will help repair a brick patio…
#1 Identify The Problem With The Brick Patio
Before you start repairing the brick patio, you need to identify the problem with the brick patio. Brick patios have different areas that need to be inspected to know the actual source of the problem. After identifying the problem with the brick patio, understand whether you can repair it or not.
If the brick patio is severely damaged, you would need the help of a professional to repair it. If the repair work is minor, and you can do it yourself, go for it.
#2 Replace Sinking Bricks
While inspecting the bricks, you might come across bricks that sank into the mortar. You can use a chisel to remove a sinking brick and prevent it from entering the mortar. After removing the brick, you can fill up the space with small gravel and sand. Compress the sand. The compressed sand will offer a proper place for the brick. Moreover, the support of the sand ensures appropriate alignment of the replaced brick(s). The new brick should align with the old bricks.
When you place new bricks in their correct position, add some sand above them. This will give stability to the new bricks. Furthermore, the bricks will not move. The sand will fill up the gaps and make the new bricks look perfect.
#3 Check The Mortar Used In The Brick Patio
Sometimes a brick patio gets damaged due to missing mortar. You cannot easily identify the places that are missing mortar just by looking at the patio. Wash the entire patio with a pressurized water jet as it will help you to inspect the patio completely. You can now visualize the placement of the missing mortar. Moreover, you will get to know the type of mortar used for building the brick patio.
To fill up the space of the missing mortar, get a mortar of the same size and color. To fix the issue of missing mortar, use the new mortar. You will need cement mixed with sand to do this. You should fill up the area of the missing mortar and use a roller over it in order to perfectly level the mortar to the correct height.
#4 Check The Bricks For The Final Fixing
After leveling up the new bricks with other bricks, let it settle. Within an hour, add water to the new bricks. This will create a bond with the sand.
#5 Check For Popped Up Bricks
Bricks may pop out from the foundation due to several reasons. You need to understand the reason for the brick popping. Only knowing the actual source of the complication fixes the brick patio perfectly. If the bricks pop out due to missing sand and insufficient mortar, then add mortar. If the sand is insufficient, then add sand to the foundation. Sometimes the bricks pop out because they are broken. Replace the broken bricks with new bricks.
Summary
Before you plan to do it yourself, understand the damage that has been done to your brick patio. Attempt a repair only if you are sure that the problem is minimal and you can handle it. If you cannot carry out the repair, hire a professional. They have the tools and know-how to get the job done.
