Can Fire-Damaged Bricks Be Repaired?

According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), every year in the United States, up to 358,500 homes experience some type of structural fire. Fires kill more than 3,000 U.S. residents per year.  In fact, the most common household fires are due to electrical, heating, and/or cooking malfunctions.



When fire ravages a home, it may seem undiscerning in its path, but that’s not true. Conduction heating allows the fire to generate heat from materials such as metal. The fire can radiate, moving among electromagnetic waves that are present in the air. Convection fires rise, but in a small room, the fire will spread, burning even faster.

What’s left after a fire depends on the extent of the damage, but brick will always remain since it won’t catch on fire or burn. However, that doesn’t mean that brick cannot be damaged by a fire.

Here are signs that your home has fire-damaged bricks.

At the very least, a thick layer of soot may form on the bricks, darkening their color. This soot is removable but may reveal further damage underneath.

Then there’s the potential damage from the thermal expansion that often transpires during a house fire. The experts at cement.org note that the brick can end up cracked from the rate of expansion. In other situations, such as during fires in which a composite wall is present, the brick headers will crack or even fracture.



This damage can spread to the wythe, a vertical masonry section that often attaches to other wythes and can act as a veneer for bricks. Then the structural integrity of the entire wall may be at risk.

Another issue that can affect bricks after a house fire is spalling, a type of flaking that occurs when water gets into the bricks. Outside of brick, natural stone and concrete can spall as well. What causes spalling in fire-damaged bricks is any leftover moisture that each brick might have held will vaporize, opening the brick up and revealing some unappealing results.

After a house fire, the appearance of your home’s exterior might be the least of your concerns. You’ll be going room to room, trying to assess which spaces are livable and if any of your most prized treasures survived. Yet before too much time passes, you should schedule a fire damage restoration team to come to your home and assess the damages.



During the assessment, they'll review what may have caused the damage and what can be done. In many cases, brick repairs are a viable option. In-situ or on-site repairs will occur on the premises, i.e. within your home.

Since many household materials are not like brick in that they don’t burn, you’re likely already in the stages of tallying up the damages and how much it will cost to renovate your home. You may have decided to get everything demolished and start over because parts of your home are that severely damaged.

You don’t want any extra expenses, but you shouldn’t ignore severely damaged bricks either. Although bricks don't burn, that doesn't mean they should remain part of your home's foundation.   



For example, if the bricks have cracked and the pieces are splintering off, that’s usually a sign that replacing rather than repairing the bricks is a better decision. You may also decide to get your exterior bricks replaced if the soot just doesn’t want to come off. You’ll also want to watch out for any discoloration in the bricks, as that will affect the overall appearance of your home’s exterior.

Although bricks cannot burn, they are still prone to some of the side effects of fire damage, such as spalling and cracking. Take the time to go through your home and evaluate the damages and always reach out to a professional for help. You’ll be back at home before you know it!

• https://www.cement.org/docs/default-source/th-codes-standards-pdfs/fire-protection-reports/fppr-august-1994.pdf?sfvrsn=f6a230bf_2
• https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/house-fire-statistics/