I am not a bricklayer, but will try to describe my problem. A small patio off the kitchen is laid in pavers, running bond, on a concrete pad. At the point of a stepdown to the sidewalk is a row of stretchers that juts from the pad about 1 inch. The bricks in this row have come unattached. They can move, but I have not removed them to see what the pad looks like. Does this sound like something I could fix myself, or is this a job for a brickmason? Assuming the pad is OK it doesn’t sound that hard to do. Any advice?
Laying brick or even repairing it is not rocket science, but it does take some skill to get it to look nice. So the answer may depend on your tolerance for amateur looking work.
You may be able to fix the loose bricks simply by pointing them, which is just pressing fresh mortar into the joints and smoothing it with a concave tool. If not, you’ll have to lift them up and re-lay them. It’s a somewhat messy job, requires a bit of heavy lifting and a wheelbarrow or container to mix the mortar in (as well as a trowel). But it’s nothing beyond the skills of your average homeowner.
If you’re particularly ham-fisted, you may wish to apply duct tape to the brick face such that once you’re done tooling the joints and the morar has set, you can peel off the duct tape, having prevented the brick facing from becoming slopped with mortar.
I saw a product at Home Depot just for your problem. Its a 2 part epoxy. Clean the surfaces, slather some on and put the brick back in place. It has a tip so it can be squirted into tight places. It is even the color of mortar. The manufacturer claims it can be used to fix cracks in sidewalks and driveways too. Sounds a lot easier than chipping out old mortar.