The 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 ...
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