Last year I added mulch to the front on my home, and since then I've noticed water stains on the foundation. Can issues with grading and mulch cause that? Last weekend I removed the mulch and tried to fix the grading, I then added weed fabric and rubber mulch hoping this would be better for moving water away. I still have the water stain issue and it seems worse now. Should I be worried about this? I'm thinking of trying to remove the mulch altogether and just leaving the soil exposed to see if it helps. Should I try digging out some of the soil? Took this photo today. [attach]114602[/attach] This photo was after adding the rubber mulch on Saturday. Don't notice much staining. [attach]114606[/attach]

I have an exterior deck with old reclaimed Chicago bricks set on a thick mortar bed probably over 50 years old. A small section of it at one corner probably about 5' by 5' had deteriorated mortar joints. I removed all the loose mortar joints this morning, cleaned it up real good, then I went ahead and put new mortar in the joints this afternoon. I used Type S stucco/mortar mix. After I filled in all the mortar, I used a sponge to clean the bricks and joints several times. In the process of cleaning with a sponge, it brings more sand up to the surface. For future reference, is there a way to wipe down the bricks without changing the texture of the joints with all the sand being brought to the surface? In addition, as I clean the bricks, being these are old Chicago bricks, it has stamped markings on the bricks. as I applied the mortar and clean it the mortar got into these stamped markings. What is a good way to avoid having to come back with a small wire brush to clean out the mortar brick by brick? After I cleaned the bricks a third time with a sponge, I laid down a sheet of visqueen and weighted that down with a few bricks at the corner so it retains as much moisture as possible and in case it rains (it did rain heavily yesterday). How long should I wait before I can really spray down the are with a garden hose to clean off all the sand? 24 hours? 36 hours or longer?