Question: I'm pretty new to home improvement so any advice would be welcome! We just bought a first floor apt in a 101 year old building in Brooklyn. One side of our kitchen has a brick wall which is covered with a layer of sheetrock and a layer of linoleum. It is ugly and we'd like to expose the brick. Given that the building is 101 years old--and the fact that ants seem to be coming through the bricks and through a crack in the sheetrock/lino layer--I wonder how much work we'd have to do to the brick so it wouldn't be crumbling into our food.
Answer: If it is an outside wall, then you are going to have to check the mortar between the bricks and possibly re-point. I would also suggest from a heating/ac standpoint that you want to put some sort of wall between the outside brick wall and the inside so that you can provide some insulation factor.
You will need to spray to remove the ants or use ant traps after you figure out how they are getting in and seal accordingly.
You can paint brick with an insulating material, once you have fixed any problems with the mortar and the bricks.
Pointing and replacing bricks can be a major exercise!
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