Repairing cracks can prevent damage
Tim Carter Small cracks on the top and bottom of the mortar joints can allow water to seep behind the bricks.
down the backside of the brick, where it's less than an inch away from the wood framing of your home. You can see why it's imperative to have a waterproof membrane covering the wood framing to protect it.
The water that flows to the bottom of the brick must be captured by a flashing. This water needs to be redirected to the outside of the house in a continuous pathway that's immune from getting clogged by the mortar as the bricklayers install the brick.
Your best bet at minimizing water infiltration at this point is to inspect the brick for any large holes or cracks where the mortar touches the brick. Repair those with
new mortar that's made using hydrated lime and fine silica sand.
Then apply two coats of a silane/siloxane solventbased water-repellent to the face of the brick. You need a helper to do this. The helper wears a backpack leaf blower and blasts the wall with air as you spray on the waterrepellent. This air forces the liquid deep into the brick to help block water pathways.
Q: What is the best way to cut drywall? It would seem to me that a power circular saw would create a wonderful straight line. How do you cut straight lines in drywall as well as curved lines?
A: The pros use a sharp razor knife to score one side of the paper face on a sheet of drywall. When you apply pressure to the other face of the drywall panel just behind the score mark, the sheet of drywall snaps quite cleanly in a straight line.
The key is to have a sharp razor that cuts through all the paper and into the gypsum core about inch. Be careful that the knife doesn't slip and cut you.
A circular saw creates massive clouds of dust and should be avoided. Small handheld human-powered plunge saws are a great tool to cut curves, circles and rectangular holes. Electric rotary saws with special high-speed bits that have cutting edges on the bits are what pros use to cut these curves, circles and holes.
You can get special small, dull plunge blades that fit on electric reciprocating saws to cut drywall on walls and ceilings. The dull nature of the blade helps to prevent cuts in hidden wires and pipes.