Installed brick veneer on drywall and now grout won't stay in spaces
#1
06-13-16, 06:02 PM
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Installed brick veneer on drywall and now grout won't stay in spaces
I'm new to any kind of brickwork, but I put up brick veneer on a large wall in my kitchen and above the cupboards with stone-veneer adhesive. I didn't put up any mesh or anything beforehand. Then I tried to grout with regular tile grout and then tried regular mortar and nothing stays in the spaces. I now know what I did wrong -- there is nothing for the grout or mortar to hold onto because of the smooth surface and probably also because of the shallowness of the bricks -- but I am stuck with it and need to get something in those spaces to finish the project. It doesn't have to be a strong material, as it has no load to bear. It just needs to stay in the spaces. I'll take any ideas, crazy or otherwise, to get it done. Thank you very much. 
Monique Christiansen
Monique Christiansen
#2
06-13-16, 06:10 PM
Welcome to the forums! What are we seeing between the bricks, now? Is that the sheetrock? Yeah, sheetrock without something for the mortar to grab on to is not the best scenario. If that is the sheetrock, you don't really have any depth to apply any grout between the bricks. That is a big reason why it is falling out. i doubt anything will stick. You may find a product like stucco, and thin it out with paint, and paint it on between the cracks for a rough look. Marksr will chime in here with his paint knowledge. He may come up with a solution. Hang in there.
#3
06-13-16, 06:17 PM
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Cripes. Yeah I would look for a bag of quikrete stucco base coat. Mix up small batches- quite moist- then use a tuck pointing trowel and a hawk to fill your joints, and a convex joint striker to tool them. Should have nailed up mesh first, but hindsight is always 20/20.
The gigantically fat mortar joints don't help.
The gigantically fat mortar joints don't help.
#4
06-13-16, 07:58 PM
Or use a grout bag. Google it. Add just a drop of dawn dish detergent to help th mortar slip through th bag. Getting the mortar into the joint without smearing brick is an art. The shallowness and the width of the joint will work against you. Be careful. It would be tedious and take a long time but you can mask each brick. Easier to do that than clean.
#5
06-13-16, 08:40 PM
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Thank you so much! And that's a great suggestion to try stucco. I like it and will get some tomorrow and test it out. I'll take pictures! Thank you!!
#6
06-13-16, 09:10 PM
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If you make a mess out of the brick, you could always paint it. I imagine it will be a giant mess, even with the grout bag.
#9
06-14-16, 04:34 AM
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I like Chandler's idea of painting the joints. I would at least try it.
You could add sand texture to the paint, a lot more sand per gallon than the instructions recommend.
With a lot of sand and the right color, it might look pretty close to being mortar.
You could add sand texture to the paint, a lot more sand per gallon than the instructions recommend.
With a lot of sand and the right color, it might look pretty close to being mortar.
