[dcmac]

Can anyone out there tell me what this is...? Is brick rot a thing?

Pic is of the base of the interior of my small garage. It's double brick but seeing this doesn't inspire confidence that the structure has a lot of time left.

Is there remediation I can do? Appreciate any insights. Cheers

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by dcmac

Can anyone out there tell me what this is...? Is brick rot a thing?

Pic is of the base of the interior of my small garage. It's double brick but seeing this doesn't inspire confidence that the structure has a lot of time left.

Is there remediation I can do? Appreciate any insights. Cheers

What you're seeing is spalling. It's a disintegration, and by your location in Colorado I'd guess that exposure to salt from your car and frost cycles have take their toll. You may be able to halt the damage by putting up a barrier to keep them dry.

[dcmac]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

What you're seeing is spalling. It's a disintegration, and by your location in Colorado I'd guess that exposure to salt from your car and frost cycles have take their toll. You may be able to halt the damage by putting up a barrier to keep them dry.

Super helpful - thanks!

I think the damage may be coming through from the exterior side... the backyard grass/dirt comes right up against the bottom of the wall and it's an irrigated yard so I'm sure there's a ton of moisture hitting the exterior wall. I may have to look at digging it out and making sure there's no direct earth to wall contact.

Appreciate it!

[infinitekidM2C]

Big bad wolf taking notes.

[Ngilbe36]

I have this same issue with my basement foundation wall which is concrete block. I assume at some point in the past 98 years the basement has seen water and caused this issue. I have taken out the lose material and filled with hydraulic cement. I will then cover these spots and the whole wall with waterproofer paint before framing down there.

[Maynard]

If you are going to waterproof, I was always told it had to be the outside of the wall (the real expensive way, I know). The waterproof paint just traps moisture in the bricks, and if there is much of it, then it will just burst thru spots in the paint. My aunt did her basement very thoroughly and it held for 2 yrs, then developed leaks that would actually squirt jets of water during rainstorms, then the wall sloughed sheets of paint stuck to corroded brickwork, like how rust eats under bondo. If you have much wetness use exterior drywall (or paint the back side) and put in a perimeter drain system. And the value of good exterior drainage cannot be overstated.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by dcmac

Super helpful - thanks!

I think the damage may be coming through from the exterior side... the backyard grass/dirt comes right up against the bottom of the wall and it's an irrigated yard so I'm sure there's a ton of moisture hitting the exterior wall. I may have to look at digging it out and making sure there's no direct earth to wall contact.

Appreciate it!

I wouldn't assume the damage is being done by what's happening on the outside. It's counter-intuitive, really. If that light hazy white stuff I'm seeing in your photo is road salt, that's a big contributor. Taste it and find out (yes, really). And the freeze-thaw cycles are the real killer. Your car comes in full of sloppy car-boogers that are loaded with salt. The boogers melt and the salty slop gets splashed or wicked up onto the wall, and then permeates the bricks any time it's above freezing. Then when it freezes, the water expands and causes the disintegration. It's the same thing that ruins our roads.

The wetness on the outside is only during the warm months, right? It's not helping, and I would definitely try to keep water off the bricks to prevent mold & mildew staining, but I doubt that it's the real cause of the spalling on the inside.

Salt is destructive to masonry, and so are freeze-thaw cycles. I was just over at my mom's yesterday, swapping her summer tires onto her car. I'm weighing options for restoring the concrete floor in her garage. You can see the outline of where all the cars have been parked; the concrete is horribly pitted in those rectangles, and in great shape everywhere else. I'll be skim-coating it with acrylic concrete patch and then epoxy coating it this summer.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Ngilbe36

I have this same issue with my basement foundation wall which is concrete block. I assume at some point in the past 98 years the basement has seen water and caused this issue. I have taken out the lose material and filled with hydraulic cement. I will then cover these spots and the whole wall with waterproofer paint before framing down there.

The real long-term solution is to make sure the exterior of your basement walls are waterproofed, and that your yard is graded (that is, sloped) so that water runs away from the house. This includes areas of landscaping; make sure water can't get to the wall or pool next to it. Once water runs down the wall and forms a column the height of the wall, there's enough pressure to force the water through anything - the blocks and any coating that's on them. Gutters are a good option too.