Technique for mortoring in one brick?

[Bob F]

I have a chimney with one double brick missing. I have the replacment brick, but am wondering about the best technique to mortor it in place. I assume I would 'butter' the bottom of the hole and insert the brick. The question is, how to best force mortor into the rest of the sides of the brick to firmly connect it to the chimney? Any suggestions or references?

Bob F

[<h>]

Mix it up and squeeze it through a bag, sort of like a pastry chef. Or, if the color matches well enough, they make mortar in a caulk-type tube you can just use as is, with a regular caulk gun. I tend to use a combo of both, depending on the individual application.

[Mikepier]

double brick missing. I have the replacment

Use masking tape or duct tape to protect the surroundinmg areas, then with your hands force the mortar into the joints. It would help if you had latex gloves.

[Jim Elbrecht]

For one brick I&#39;d pray that the mortar in a caulk tube matches close enough. [let a sample dry to see how close it is.]

Then I&#39;d butter the back- lay some pebbles in the hole to support the new brick at the correct height- push it in and let it dry overnight. Once it is firm I&#39;d fill the gaps with the caulk/mortar.

How&#39;d you lose one brick?

Jim

[John McGaw]

I always butter the gap&#39;s bottom thoroughly and the ends as well as possible, slide the brick into place, wiggle the brick a bit to get the proper thickness of mortar bed, and then use a tuck-pointing trowel to push mortar into the top gap from a mortar board (not the graduation hat!) or from a regular mason&#39;s trowel. Strike the joint after the mortar has set up for a while.

There is a bit of technique involved but it is relatively easy. Wetting the brick and surrounding area is a good idea and getting the correct mortar composition is critical -- most modern mortar mixes are just to hard and strong to work well on old brickwork.

[Bob F]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Bob