Why Soviet brickwork is stronger than modern masonry
A brick house built in 1951 has stood for 75 years and looks as good as new. Meanwhile, modern cladding sometimes begins to crumble after just the second or third winter. The secret of old houses is in the brick and the joints.
My name is Gleb Tikhonov, and I'm a professional civil engineer.
First, old houses were built with solid brick. Even sand-lime brick, although it doesn't handle moisture as well as ceramic brick.
Second, the joints were filled completely with mortar, flush with the brick or with a bead facing outward. This bead acts as a drip edge: water doesn't linger in the joint and flows downward.
Today, they often use a hollow joint or a recessed joint: the joint on the face remains unfilled. Rain and snow accumulate in this recess, saturating the mortar and brick, and in winter, it freezes, expands, and chips off the face layer.
Modern codes allow both hollow brick and recessed joints in cladding. But in our climate, I don't recommend doing this. It's better to leave the brickwork under the rod with slotted bricks for interior use.
Proper old brickwork has a huge safety margin. A house just like this three doors down wasn't demolished: they cut floor-to-ceiling windows, added a floor, and ended up with an English-style mansion.
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Which old brick houses in your city still look better than new ones?
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