Brick pointing
Pointing is cutting worn mortar out of the joints and packing new mortar in. Around here people say pointing, or whole house pointing. Some folks call it tuckpointing. It’s the same job.
Mortar is softer than brick on purpose. It takes the weather so the brick doesn’t, and after eighty or ninety years it has done its job and starts to wash out. Pointing replaces it. The brick stays, the joints get new mortar, and the wall keeps water out again.
Most of the houses I work on went up before 1930. Their brick is soft, and modern hard mortar will crack it. I mix to suit the brick, not the bag.
Signs your wall needs it
- Sand at the base of the wall after it rains.
- Joints you can scrape out with a house key.
- Brick faces flaking or popping off.
- Damp spots or white powder on the inside walls.
How I do it
- I walk the wall with you and take pictures of the worst joints, so you see what I see before I quote.
- I cut the old mortar out to a depth of about three quarters of an inch, without widening the joint.
- I brush the joints clean and wet them so the new mortar bonds.
- I mix mortar to suit the brick: a lime-rich mix for old soft brick, a stronger mix for hard modern brick.
- I pack the joints in layers and tool them to match the profile that’s already there.
- I clean the wall and leave the yard the way I found it, minus the sand.
Not sure what the wall needs?
Text me a photo of the wall. If it’s a small job, I’ll tell you it’s a small job.
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