Wall Brick Pointing

Brick pointing, no big deal

The procedure used to repair brick joints is call Brick pointing or Tuck pointing. Weather, sunlight, expansion and fiction from building movement are some of the reasons mortar in brick joints deteriorate. Porous brick joints can cause water to leak into home and buildings interior causing further structure damage.

Protect yourself

Before starting protect skin, eyes and hands. Use dust mask, safety glasses, gloves, and protective clothing.

Mortar that comes in contact with the skin should be washed off from time to time. Some people are allergic or sensitive to mortar and should avoid any contact with mortar.

Brick pointing tools require

Hammer: at lease 16 ounce

Small cold chisel.

Finishing Trowel.

Masons brush; some times acid brush.

Wire brush: to brush out dust and lose mortar.

Caulking gun: so that you can use concrete caulking at base of work and exterior caulking at windows and doors, Figure 5.

Brick jointer: to smooth out joints, Figure 7.

Tuck pointing trowel: for placing mortar into joints, Figure 6.

Mixing pan: to mix mortar.

Five Gallon buckets: for water and clean up.

Water hose: to wash down work area.

Drop cloth: optional; to cover work area.

ladder or scaffold.

Materials needed

Mortar mix.

Or, mix your own mortar with cement, lime and sand.

Concrete caulking for base of wall.

Flashing tar if working on chimney or on top of roof.

Good silicone or latex caulking

Prep your brick pointing work

Before starting wet the ground and /or cover the ground.

Begin by moistening the wall and joints with water, let joints dry some, (with damp clean joints the mortar will stick better). As mentioned you will want to optionally wet and hose down the ground so the mortar won’t easily stick to the ground easily making clean up easy. Also muriatic acid can be used to clean mortar from the brick and ground after mortar has dried.

Start brick pointing

Start brick pointing by chopping out old mortar with hammer and chisel removing any loose or cracked mortar from between the bricks, (this may not necessary at all points of your work.) afterwards wire brush joints and wall. Chop out cracks in an inverted V shape note figure 5.

Brick point wall with mortar mix cement, not regular cement. As mentioned before you can mix your own cement using regular Portland cement, sand, and lime, the lime make it stick to vertical surfaces. A mix of 5 sand, 1 cement and 3/4 lime should do.

The temperature should be above 40 degrees Fahrenheit so that mortar can cure properly. Mix mortar as if you were mixing very thick oatmeal. Place small amount of mortar on your trowel and scoop off into brick joints with pointing tuck tool, Figure 2-4.

finally use brick jointer to smooth out the joints, occasionally dipping your jointer in water if your cement is dry or rough. Be sure to occasionally stir up your mix to keep the sand from separating from the cement.

To view more illustrations on this subject visit this site with wonderful images of pointed walls.

Below are illustrations for brick pointing
Figure 1, Clean and caulk doors and windows Before caulking	Figure 2, Note: the open brick seams in this wall easy way for water to penetrate

Figure 3, Brick point with mortar cement	Figure 4, Use trowel with pointing tool

Figure 5 Chop out cracks in an inverted V shape	Figure 6 Brick pointing tuck tool

Figure 7 Brick jointing tool Jointing tools at www.warehousebay.com

There is also information about all types of brick pointing and cement work in this book.

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