For the past two weeks H and I have been working on our new third floor space in what was originally our attic. While I was in CA H and Pop broke open the ceiling for the third floor, built the stairs up to the third floor and prepped the space. Over the last two weeks H and I have installed the insulation, added mortar to the brick walls, and sealed the brick walls. H and Pop worked on installing the sub-floor and building the wall in the attic. Literally in the last two weeks the third floor has taken shape and is starting to look like a real room!
Our third floor space will become our master bedroom when we move in. Our goal is to keep as much of the brick walls exposed as possible and to keep the “old wood” charm in tact. Within the third floor there are three brick walls to work with–one on each side of the house and a partial knee wall on the front of the house which supports the two dormer windows. The brick walls are in pretty good shape for probably never being touched in a 100+ years. In some areas especially where the bricks run on the short end rather than full length the mortar has begun to disintegrate and disappear and you can see through to the outside.
Repairing the Walls
My job the first week was to replace the mortar, so the brick walls once again retain their insulative properties. As we learned from doing outside repair work, a “special” mortar is required to be used on older brick work. For soft bricks (like ours) we needed to use a “soft” mortar which allows the bricks to expand and contract. Hard mortar would not allow the bricks to expand and contract and hence, would cause the bricks to crack or their “faces to blow.”
Lowes was our first stop and they didn’t offer the right type of mortar, so we went to Pleasants Hardware (which is owned by ACE Hardware) and is more of a local hardware store. They didn’t have the right type of mortar either (they stopped selling the older, historic mortar 10+ years ago due to demand), but they had two recommendations–Shade & Wise and Southside Builders Supply. Both companies are masonry suppliers that Pleasants believed would carry or could recommend an appropriate mortar.
Shade and Wise was closer, so I decided to stop there first to see what they offered. Sure enough Shade and Wise had some good suggestions on how to repair the mortar and the appropriate products. The gentlemen at the store was extremely helpful and recommended using Type N Old Colonial mortar mixed with sand. They recommended a 1:5 mortar to sand ratio. Though I didn’t need 75 lbs of mortar that was how they sold it, so $13.05 later I had way more mortar than I needed and was ready to go. The type of sand isn’t as important, but the gentleman didn’t recommend hijacking playground sand, so they gave me a box and filled it up with sand for free (very nice!).
Once at home I mixed up the sand, mortar and water and created a slurry of mortar. Shade & Wise recommended adding water till the mortar looked like clumpy oatmeal. The first few batches came out runny, so I kept adding sand/mortar and then finally by the sixth or seventh batch I got the hang of it. Kevin, our tile installer, was still at the house working so he lent me his pan and trowel and even taught me some techniques. While he was a good teacher, I was not a good student and in the end used my fingers to apply the mortar. I wore nitrile gloves when applying the mortar as Shade and Wise said that the mortar was very drying and could crack skin easily. Nitrile gloves are stronger than latex and tear and abrasion resistant, so I started keep a large supply at the house for various projects.
Applying the mortar went pretty quickly and by the third and final wall I think I finally got the hang of mixing the mortar and applying it. It’s a messy process as 90% of what is applied doesn’t stay on the wall, but all-in-all I think it was worth doing it myself. I still have 65 lbs of mortar and 10 lbs of sand left so I plan on pouring what I can in 5 gallon buckets and keeping it for the future–I’m sure mortar will continue to fall out of our walls internally and externally and now I have the resources to repair it myself.
Sealing the Walls
After repairing the walls H, Mom and I brushed down the walls with a broom to get the excess sand and mortar to fall off. Then I applied a sealant to the brick to keep all the sand and mortar from continuing to fall off the wall. When we met with Nicholai at his studio last, he was using a product called Agri-Seal 25 to seal the stairs for our staircase. He recommended Agri-Seal and said it was often used to seal bricks as well. I tracked the Agri-Seal 25 product down to a store called Pressure Works, Inc. which is located in the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond. Agri-Seal 25 is Pressure Works’ proprietary concrete, masonry sealer that they sell in 1 gallon and 5 gallon buckets. I bought a 5 gallon bucket for $99 and a few rollers and trays to get the job done. The guys at Pressure Works also recommended purchasing a respirator mask and wearing gloves and eye protection. After hearing all that I started wondering what I was getting myself into!
On the first wall, Mom and I used nappy 3/4″ rollers and a brush to apply the sealant. The bricks and mortar soaked up the sealant so quickly and it was extremely hard to get into all the nooks and crannies. After the first application I was not impressed and a little disheartened by the whole process. The respirator and gloves where life savers as the smell was very overwhelming.
When considering other application methods I looked at Lowes and purchased a relatively inexpensive power painter sprayer and nappier rollers thinking the nappier the better. When I got back to the house Pop recommended using our plastic tank sprayer first as if we ruined it with the Agri-Seal we could throw it out and not be out $69.
So, on our second try applying the Agri-Seal H and I cleaned out and loaded our poly-plastic tank sprayer with Agri-Seal using a funnel. At first we were disappointed to see that we couldn’t adjust the spray pattern, however, I was pleased to see that the sprayer could handle the thick sealant. Within an hour I had re-coated the first wall with the sealant and finished the second wall. Using the sprayer allowed us to get into all the nooks and crannies and allowed for a much better and thicker coverage.
When we went back the next day I was pleased to see that the walls were sufficiently sealed. The following night H and I went back to seal the third and final wall. Luckily, we thought ahead and soaked the sprayer in mineral spirits, so the sprayer was reusable.
Insulating
Now that the brick walls were up to par we could focus our attention on insulating the non-brick areas which included the ceiling, dormers, and newly built wall. Everywhere possible we used faced insulation, so that the vapor barrier was built in. However, around areas where we had to fit the insulation in (like the dormer windows) we used unfaced insulation and then installed a vapor barrier over it using 4 mil plastic. The first few sheets were a bit challenging, but once H and I got the hang of it we were on a roll. We learned quickly to wear safety masks, eye protection and gloves–though insulation has come a long way, it’s still itchy!! We used Johns Manville brand insulation as that was what was in stock at Lowes, but in hind sight maybe we should have looked at a few of the special order brands so that we could have avoided the itchiness and the vapor barrier installation. Roxul is a special order insulation available at Lowes that has no fiberglass, is water-resistant and is made from natural and recycled material. Maybe next time!
Now that our third floor space is insulated and the brick walls are up to par we are ready to start enclosing the walls with drywall and installing the final flooring. The nice thing about the brick work and insulation was that we got to see quick, fast, noticeable progress by completing a relatively small amount of work.
I must add that the work over the last few weeks wasn’t exactly sexy work. Wearing eyewear and a respirator (though it was pink) just doesn’t look hot. Plus, it’s hard to kiss wearing a respirator!
