Mysterious piles of brick dust...!

[Mr.Miniver]

We have a brick fireplace in our pre-Victorian cottage and I keep sweeping up a small pile of brick dust. It appears that one of the bricks on the front-facing pier/edge is crumbling away everso slowly. Nothing is rubbing it but there is a dent that is getting slowly bigger.

I can't think that the brick is damp- might it be some sort of brick-mite [?] or do old bricks just fall apart occassionally?

Any ideas?

 

[Lime]

Do you keep pet birds?

 

[Mr.Miniver]

No, afraid not. But it does sort of look like the results of pecking.

The brick is quite soft to touch where it's 'insides' have been revealed. I wonder if I should just brush it our and treat it with some stabiliser to see if that stops the problem?

 

[Penners]

Have you invited any of the neighbours in recently?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJRRyeGnM7k&NR=1



This doesn't sound at all like the habit of masonry bees, but here's an article by SPAB so you check the similarity of symptoms for yourself:

http://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-17-masonry-bees/

Frankly, I wouldn't bother with stabiliser or any other such experiments. It sounds as though the brick in question is very soft and friable, so I should just hack it out (carefully!) and replace it with a new, matching one.

 

[Mr.Miniver]

LOL- not seen anyone nibbling the fireplace...!

No evidence of bees either.

I guess it's just a crappy old brick giving up the ghost. I'll just keep sweeping and when it's gone completely, slip in a new one.

I was just worried that it was in someway likely to spread.

 

[TomW]

I would paint it with a weak PVA solution just to bind the surface. At least you would not have to keep sweeping up piles of dust. It may be quite difficult to find a brick that matches exactly.

 

[Mr.Miniver]

That's a good idea- and nice and low tech.

It won't make it shiny will it?

 

[robgil]

givbe mike wye a call , they do all this type of stuff.

 

[TomW]

It won't make it shiny will it?

I don't think so if you use a weak solution, but maybe try it out on an area where it won't matter first.