Jeff Somers is a freelancer who has been writing about writing, books, personal finance, and home maintenance since 2012. When not writing, Jeff spends his free time fixing up his old house. He has ...

Does anyone know of what to do about crumbling bricks in a brownstone? If you touch the bricks (a few in the back and in the basement), they just crumble. I suspect some sort of water damage???

I am a renter in a beautiful duplex brownstone in Carroll Gardens. We have exposed brick walls in the kitchen, with a non-working brick fireplace. The owner has chosen not to seal the interior brick.