Loose bricks.

[Terry]

My side door at the carport is the door everyone uses. My house is brick. Under the door has a layer of brick and then a row of bricks cut to about half size and are turned outward. This kind of makes a toenail sticking out from under the door. This layer is covered by the a wooden frame. Because everyone uses this door, the mortar has come completely loose on the center few bricks. If I just take morter and stick the bricks back together I am sure that this won't last very long.

Anyone have suggestion on how to sturdy up the wooden step before I redo the brick?

[<aemeijers]

So they did the bottom of the door opening like a windowsill, huh? Bad idea- mortar joints aren't that strong in that direction, and if the bricks stick out, they are little levers whenever somebody steps on them going in or out.

Is house is real brick (2 or 3 layer deep wall), or brick veneer (brick over normal frame wall)?

I'd cut or remove the brick , or at least the outside layer, under the door edge-to-edge, make sure the flashing under the door is in good shape and goes all the way down over the foundation, etc, and either pour a proper stoop out of concrete, or maybe stop by local stone yard and get a chunk of limestone or granite cut exactly to size and mortar it in there. If all that is confusing sounding, it should be a trivial job for the local traveling stone mason.

aem sends....