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?

This was such a simple project. A 2' x3' 4" thick concrete pad to mount a heat pump compressor on. Unfoirutnately I did several things wrong, leading to the pad hardening fine but tilting in the muddy earth. I mud-jacked it up with a pick axe and shoved stones under it, getting closer to level. (I really needed an extra pair of (dispendable) hands. Originally, this mud was so hard it took a pickaxe to break it. But now it is squishy, so I want it a little lower on one side that it is. To accomplish this, I loaded that side with two 5 gal buckets of water and topped them with a rubbermad tub also filled. I have about 200 pounds on that side. I am thinking that the constant weight will work in my favor. If I see any effect mat all, I can make adjustments. But as a reliable level surface to mount anything on, I can't see it so far. If I had just dug a 4" hole and filled it with concrete, I would have had no trouble. Will my pad settle into a level position, sink, or do otherwise? There is no frost. The roots of the trouble is two fold. I over excavated and filled with dirt and rocks uncompacted and 2) I poured the concrete onto a piece of cement board thinking this would strenghten the whole thing. What it was good for instead was sliding. The concrete itself would have conformed. My experiment was a failure and I the laughing stock like all great experimenters.