Special Focus
TIPS FOR HOME INSPECTORS
INSPECTING PRE-20TH CENTURY MASONRY By Michael G. Bryan
Michael G. Bryan is an ASHI Certified Home Inspector and a Virginia State Certified Home Inspector. He is President of Inspection Services of Central Virginia, DBA MGB Inspection Service, in Rockville, VA, and has inspected more than 16,000 homes and light commercial buildings since 1993. Prior to that, he owned and operated a disaster restoration contracting company, and was a sales representative and conceptual designer for the additions and renovations department of a custom home builder. Michael is a former journeyman Mason specializing in masonry restoration. He offers one-hour and two-hour seminars on masonry; the complete seven-hour program provides information about history, installation practices, characteristics of materials, fireplaces, restoration and more. He has presented his educational seminars to Mike Casey’s Super Conference, CVASHI, and Kenny Hart’s school. Contact him at mgbinspect@gmail.com. 12
ASHI Reporter • MAY 2021
T
he masonry that we home inspectors scrutinize generally falls into one of two broad categories: pre- and post-20th century. The transition point centers around the introduction of Portland cement– based masonry mortar, which began to replace lime mortar around 1920. The conditions we observe and document between earlier and modern masonry are often starkly different because Portland cement–based mortar transitioned masonry to a near maintenance-free system. Lime mortar is a softer mortar, which offers masonry the flexibility to better manage significant stress, but it does not weather as well as Portland cement– based mortar. Masons of earlier eras fully expected to perform routine maintenance on masonry as one of the normal and necessary skills of their craft. It should come as no surprise, then, to realize that most of the adverse conditions we observe in old masonry were never supposed to develop and are, in fact, the result of decades of neglect. The restoration of historic masonry has only come into existence as the remedy for extreme neglect.
