Video library
41 videos, sorted by the problem they deal with rather than by the job they were filmed on. Each one opens on YouTube.
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Who I am, and why this library exists.
Meet Phil Wright - 40 Years in Stone, and Why I Built Heritage Masonry Advisor
Forty years in pre-1950 brick and stone, a career-changing injury, and why I started giving this away instead of selling it.
6:27
Steel Bar in My Neck. 7 Months to Recover.
A slip on a job site drove a steel bar up under my jaw. Seven months off the wall, and how that turned into a pivot rather than an ending.
2:02
These Walls Talk - How a Mason Learns to Listen
The way I see the work: a conversation between the mason and the material, whether the wall is new or a hundred and fifty years old.
2:44
These Walls Talk. One Couple Couldn't Hear.
Two couples, two outcomes. Both showed me the same problem, that homeowners have no good information before they pick up the phone.
2:32
Look Up - Why I Built This Library of Videos
Why I built this library. When someone calls about a few cracks or a bit of spalling, the real problem is usually bigger than the thing they noticed.
13:37Mortar, lime and the wrong-material problem
The single most common cause of damage I get called to look at.
They Did a Beautiful Job... With the wrong mortar.
Tinted mortar, clean joints, blended beautifully with the brick. It was still the wrong mortar, and the wall will pay for it.
Answers: Can I just use regular mortar from the hardware store on my old brick house?1:35
Harder Isn't Better
People assume harder mortar means a stronger wall. On an old house it is the opposite. The soft joint is what protects the brick.
Answers: Can I just use regular mortar from the hardware store on my old brick house?1:44
Why Portland Cement Destroys Heritage Stone - And What Should Be There Instead
Mortar is not filler. It is part of how the wall works, and when it is Portland-based on heritage stone, the stone takes the damage.
Answers: My contractor wants to use Type N mortar on my old brick. Is that okay?1:28
Freeze, Thaw, Repeat - How Portland Cement Destroys Heritage Brick
Portland cement is too hard for old brick and it traps moisture inside. In an Ontario winter that water freezes and takes the face off.
Answers: Why did my brick start crumbling after I insulated my house or upgraded my furnace?1:13
Portland Cement Trapped the Moisture. The Arch Paid the Price.
This arch has stood since 1836. The Portland repointing that came decades later is what may bring it down.
1:10
Why Heritage Repointing Doesn't End When the Mortar Goes In
Lime mortar is right for heritage work, but the job does not end when it goes in. Thirty days without freezing, misted, kept damp, covered.
Answers: Is Natural Hydraulic Lime (NHL) always the right mortar for an old house?0:47
Built in 1836. We Repoint It By Hand - St John's Anglican, Peterborough
St John's Anglican in Peterborough, built in 1836. Repointed by hand, one joint at a time, because that is what the building asks for.
Answers: How do I know if a masonry contractor knows how to work on historic homes?1:06Cracks and structural movement
What a crack is telling you, and when it stops being cosmetic.
Hairline cracks in your masonry wall? Here's what they're telling you
Small cracks in heritage brick are not cosmetic. They are usually the first visible sign that something has started to move.
Answers: Is a stair-step crack in my brick wall a structural emergency?0:32
Small Hairline Cracks leading to Big Problems
Credit Valley sandstone in Forest Hill, and how hairline cracking turns into a much larger problem if nobody reads it.
1:26
A Dropped Arch is a Structural Concern
When brick in an arch has visibly dropped, filling the crack will not fix it. The crack that explains the drop is usually further up the wall.
Answers: Is a stair-step crack in my brick wall a structural emergency?2:39
Short - Just a Few Cracks
A short look at cracks that a homeowner reads as age, and what they actually mean.
1:25
A Few Cracks Became $100,000! Here's Why
What looked like a cosmetic repair turned into a hundred thousand dollar arch rebuild, after new window frames went into old openings.
2:43
Cuthbert Short - The Cracks Were Trying to Tell a Story
Photographs taken before the wall came down. Every crack and displaced stone in them was a warning nobody read.
Answers: How do I tell if a crack in my wall is still moving or an old one?0:54
Cuthbert Short - Two and a Half Tons. Two Inches Out of Plumb
A stone column eleven feet high and over two and a half tons, two inches out of plumb after a single winter.
Answers: Is my cracked or bulging brick wall going to fall down?1:00
Cuthbert Short - The Freeze Thaw Machine
A hundred and fifty year old home in Toronto. The owner saw cracks in the Credit Valley stone and put it down to age.
0:59
Midtown Toronto - When a Heritage Wall Tries to Tell You Something
The full case study. Credit Valley stonework that stood for generations, and the two and a half tons of it that came down overnight.
6:20Water, downspouts and drainage
Water is the first thing I look for. It is almost always where the trouble starts.
One Downspout, That's All It Would Have Taken
One downspout is all it would have taken. Water is the first enemy of heritage masonry and the cheapest thing to get right.
Answers: Can a leaking gutter really damage my brick wall?0:57
Cuthbert Bonus Short - A Redirected Downspout Did This
A downspout redirected the wrong way flooded the base of a stone column and pushed it two inches out of plumb.
0:28
Cuthbert Short - One Redirected Downspout. One Winter. $20,000
The homeowner expected a couple of thousand to fill some cracks. It came to more than twenty thousand, from one badly redirected downspout.
Answers: Can a leaking gutter really damage my brick wall?1:00Spalling, crumbling and repairs that made it worse
Brick faces breaking away, and the well-meant fixes that speed it up.
This Is What Spalling Looks Like
Spalling is the face of a brick breaking away. Once it starts it speeds up, because the soft inside takes on far more water.
Answers: Why is the brick on my house peeling or crumbling off?1:40
This Wall is Going to Fail
Spalling and efflorescence together, on a wall that is going to fail. The visible damage is the symptom, not the problem.
Answers: Can a few crumbling bricks spread to the rest of the wall?0:56
My Heart Sank... As Soon As I Walked In
Walking onto a property and knowing straight away that this is going to be a difficult conversation with the owner.
Answers: Why is the brick on my house peeling or crumbling off?2:34
The Wall Was So Unstable Our Mason Had to Stop - St John's Anglican, Peterborough
Our mason was repointing twenty-five feet up when he stopped. The stones were coming out by hand, with sand where the mortar should have been.
Answers: Why is the mortar between my bricks turning to dust?2:13
The Wall That Could Have Been Saved
Every problem this wall had was fixable. Years of the wrong materials and the wrong methods is what made it terminal.
Answers: I already spray-foamed or insulated my old home. How do I stop the brick from crumbling now?2:07
Every Fix Made It Worse
One wall, several repairs over the years, and every one of them made it worse. Portland, concrete patches, sealants, each trapping more water.
Answers: What happens if you use the wrong mortar on an old house?1:23
They Poured Concrete to Stop the Wall
Someone saw a heritage wall failing and thought concrete would hold it together. It sealed the moisture in and finished the wall off.
Answers: How do you fix a damp historic foundation without sealing it?1:30
Parging a Heritage Corner
Parging, coating old brick in a skin of mortar, is one of the most common fixes reached for. Here is what it does underneath.
1:14
This Building Has Survived Two World Wars
A heritage building in Cambray that has stood through two world wars and a century of Canadian winters. Neglect is what it will not survive.
0:53Cleaning, paint and sealers
What takes a hundred years of grime off safely, and what takes the brick with it.
Why Sandblasting Destroys Heritage Brick - And What To Do Instead
Sandblasting looks like the answer to a century of soot. It looks superb for three to five years, and then the damage starts showing.
Answers: How do I clean old brick without ruining it?4:11
They Thought They Were Just Cleaning The Walls.
They thought they were cleaning the walls. They were removing the fired skin that had been protecting the brick since it was made.
Answers: How do I clean old brick without ruining it?1:00
Never Paint Heritage Brick. Here's What Happens When You Do.
Paint seals the surface and traps water inside the masonry. Through a few freeze-thaw cycles that water pushes the face off the brick.
Answers: Can I put a waterproof sealer on my old brick house?1:05Sourcing and matching stone
Where heritage stone comes from, and how a repair is made to disappear.
Heritage Stone Hiding in Plain Sight - Two Hours from Toronto
Most people never see where heritage stone comes from. This is a Buckhorn quarry in the Kawartha Lakes, two hours from Toronto.
1:36
One Quarry, So Many Colours of Heritage Limestone!
The limestone out of one Kawartha quarry comes in colours people do not expect. Mochas, reds, warm browns, and the classic greys.
Answers: Will the repair look like an obvious patch job on my old house?1:00
It's Hard to Find the Stones We Tinted!
Decades of pollution had blackened this Forest Hill home so completely that nobody knew there were bright pink stones underneath.
Answers: Can you match the colour of 19th-century mortar?1:28What a heritage job actually involves
The parts of the work that show up on a proposal and puzzle people.
Mobilization and Access - What That Line Item on Your Proposal Actually Means
That first line on a masonry proposal, mobilization and access, and what it actually covers before anyone touches a stone.
Answers: How much does it cost to repoint a historic brick house?1:54
The First Thing We Assess on a Heritage Masonry Site Isn't the Masonry
The first thing we look at on a heritage site is not the masonry. Here is what comes before any of the work starts.
Answers: How do I know if a masonry contractor knows how to work on historic homes?1:04Not sure which one applies to your wall?
Send me a photo. I will tell you what I am looking at and whether it is what you think it is. No obligation, no salesperson.
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