Bricks
repointing is most essential part of masonry restoration and involves the mortar replacing from joint parts all around bricks to present a more attractive overall look in addition to protecting against water damage, mold growing and water seeping in through breaks inside the mortar.
Brick repointing is mostly performed on aged buildings and homes as mortar start to showing sings of weather erosions. In fewer cases a repointing is used for pure cosmetic purposes to enhance the brickwork.
Steps of bricks repointing
- The first step is the old mortar in between the bricks is grinded out with a special hand tool and angle grinder, to a depth of 1/3 – 1/2 inch.
- The surface is then blasted with water to get rid of any residual mortar and grime. Although bricks continue to be wet, a fresh mortar mix is used. The wetness allows the fresh mortar better stick to.
- As soon as the mortar joints are full and get dried up in a couple of minutes a jointing tool is employed to produce your wanted appear.
Mortar
The mortar is made of fine sand, concrete, a bit of lime as well as some various oxides. All components are thoroughly mixed to enhance the current brick coloring to provide a consistent finish of repointing. The fresh mortar hides any unevenness or defects within the bricks and gives a fresh finish. Additionally repointing can be used for mortar color changing and overall appearance.
Types of Joints
Most popular joint types are including:
- Raked
- Concave jointed
- V jointed
- Weather jointed
- Cut flush
- Brushed
- Grapevine jointed.
Technical Features
Brick repointing can be simple or very difficult depending on many issues. The first issue to deal with tuckpointing is the hardness of the mortar and how much of the mortar needs to be replaced.
The best way to tell how much work will be involved in removing the mortar is to find a piece of wall that will not be noticed and scrap the mortar joint. If you are lucky the mortar will be soft and the mortar will come off very effortlessly. An electric grinder with a diamond blade will cut quickly when cutting this type of mortar. In very tough situations the mortar may be very hard and the grinder will move very slowly and therefore the price may bit higher.
Are you going to restore or perform a brick repointing in New York? Need a masonry and brickwork contractor you can trust? Call us today to schedule an estimate or place order!
