Frost damage is the most common cause of cracked or spalled (flaking) bricks: water gets into the brick, freezes, expands, and breaks the surface apart. Impact damage and general age also contribute.
Bricks are porous, so they absorb some moisture from rain and damp ground. In cold weather, that moisture can freeze inside the brick. Water expands as it freezes, and that expansion, repeated over many freeze-thaw cycles each winter, is what causes the surface of a brick to flake away (spalling) or crack. Older bricks, softer brick types, and bricks that stay damp for longer (for example, near a leaking gutter or at ground level where they're more exposed to standing water) are more prone to this.
Once a brick has started to spall, the problem tends to get worse over time rather than stay the same, because the newly exposed surface is more porous and holds even more water than the original brick face did. This is why a small area of frost damage left unaddressed often spreads to neighbouring bricks over a few winters.
The fix is straightforward: damaged bricks are removed and replaced with matching bricks, and if the surrounding mortar has also failed, repointing that area at the same time stops water getting back into the new brickwork the same way. This is a common issue on older brick properties across Preston and Lancashire, where many buildings have been standing through decades of freeze-thaw winters.
GreenFix provides brick repairs across Preston and Lancashire. From £150 minimum (guide price only, confirmed after assessment).
