How to Properly Fill a Gap Around a Copper Pipe in Brickwork?

[John9]

Hi everyone,

I recently had a plumber reroute a copper water pipe through a brick wall, and the result left a noticeable gap in the brickwork, as shown in the photo attached. I'm looking for advice on the best way to fill this gap properly.

A few details:

• The gap is fairly large in some areas, and the pipe runs close to the edges of the bricks.
• I want the repair to be sturdy and look neat, while also ensuring the copper pipe is protected from corrosion caused by direct contact with mortar or cement.

What materials and techniques would you recommend for filling this gap and blending the repair with the surrounding wall?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Jewelleryrescue]

Hi  @John9 

Firstly  the copper pipe wont corrode touching any thing so no stress there. it will colour the same as whats there allready

You need to re lay those bricks  for starters is  the best repairs  so we  need to match your mortar colour as close as possible to your wall colour,

Try find a whole brick replacemrnt for the half brick to fully  close the wall.

Use Off White cement powder x  bag  with a bag of white sand.  Mix   1 part off white cement. to 6 parts sand add water so it is mixed in 100 % in a  tooth brush like consistancy. Color will never  be perfect.

so using gloved hand pull out those  bricks  wet the wall bricks and pulled out bricks to wet.

Now put in 10 mm thick layer of mortar at the first brick  gap including the  sides place the wet brick in place  pushing excess mortar out of the way with the brick until it is flush with the wall tap it level.

Fill the remaining hole and 2 brick spacing with mortar all round  it might on stick to the underside but  try.

Now do the top bricks only before you insert the wet bricks put mortar on the top of the bricks too.

It will be messy but try  get the bricks level with nice 10 mm mortar spacing it may take a coulpe of attempts

once all the bricks in level and flush with the wall  push extra mortar all around the bricks to fill the gaps, 

Now to approximate your Bagged brick look  wipe some more cement on to the replacement bricks if they not the original colors.

So you have a mortar covering all the bricks now .  use the  rag to wipe in some light swirl  marks to try match the  original  wall.

Wash  any excess mortar off the wall with a big sponge dripping with water to your satisfaction.  also the sponge  may aid in swirl  patterns,

the repair wont be perfect but if you  paint  later the whole thing should be blended in.

[John9]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. One detail not visible in the original photo is the T-joint where the copper pipe enters the wall space. Should I leave a gap around this area and fill it with expanding foam, or would another method be better? Please refer to the image below. 

[Jewelleryrescue]

Thanks @John9 

re the  extra photo. it all makes sense now. 

Turn the rendered brick sides  out so the pattern is still visable this will help blend the repair back to the original  wall texture.

Basically I would cut and put in a 1/4 brick in the left hand side near the pipe  and use the original 1  and  1/2  bricks as seen in your photos on the right side of the pipe.

That will leave the brick gaps as extra large.  That is perfecly ok just fill the morter lines up with mortar.

Fill mortar around the copper pipe the tape on the copper pipe will allow for small wall movements if it happens while  encased in the mortar.

Fill all of the brick gap spaces with mortar and aim to make the brick face flat and even with the brick and scrape the mortar flat and even to the vertical wall exterior.

If you can  use  more morter to reproduce the sweeping  style across the brick repairs, in the same thickness this  will be great.

Remeber a  large wet sponge will help  clean up the brick work  with a bucket of water.

[JacobZ]

Hi @John9,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

It seems @Jewelleryrescue has already covered things well. 

The basic process would be to reinstate the bricks using mortar to set them in place. There are also no issues with mortar being in contact with copper pipes so you can use mortar and bricks close to the pipe.

Once the gap is filled and the mortar has set, render over the bricks to match the surrounds.

If you have any further questions I can assist with, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob