Hello,
I live in a brick house (multi-family) built in the 1930s. Of course, on the brick wall outside on the balcony, there are some holes and other marks from fastenings that people have made over the years. Some traditionally drilled into the brick...
BUT
In the mortar between the stones, there are some 3-inch nails, but also screw eyes without any plugs or anything. Just straight into the mortar... as if it were wood. Plus, they are as solid as a rock! But that may also be because they’ve rusted and then attached firmly. I find it hard to believe that they were embedded at the time of construction.
I would like to avoid drilling into the beautiful brick to put up a few more eyes for a balcony guard. What technique could have been used for fastening in the mortar? And for the screw eyes? Perhaps a small hole was nailed first, and then the eye was screwed in? The eyes are of the small sort, with about an 8mm diameter on the eye with a wood thread, maybe 4mm. It's hard to believe that it would have been possible to drill a hole in the very brittle and crumbly mortar.
I have put up some frames indoors with steel nails, and that works.
How on earth did they manage with the screws?
Regards,
Stefan
