How To Tuckpoint Brick Successfully
While bricks are not the most commonly used building materials, most have seen a few buildings made out of this strong material. The mortar between the bricks, however, is even more important than the bricks themselves. They keep the bricks in place, water out, and bear some weight. Hence, like bricks, mortar needs to be repaired sometimes; usually with a process called tuckpointing brick.
It certainly does not take a professional to repair a damaged mortar joint. Some delicacy and determination will get anyone through the job well enough. Many find that the most complicated part is adding the right amount of pigment to the repair mortar to create a shade that matches the surrounding mortar.
Some might need to take a trip to a local home and gardening store in order to have the right tools necessary for the repair. The materials and tools needed are a cold chisel, heavy hammer, a stiff bristled brush, mortar hawk, a joint strike, some mortar mix, a bit of pigment (to match existing mortar), eye protection, and a pair of leather work gloves.
The first thing that needs to be taken care of is all the jumbled and broken pieces of mortar surrounding the joint. They need to be removed, and there are two ways to do so: using a cutting wheel or a cold chisel. When using either tool, be careful not to aim for the brick when chiseling or cutting the broken mortar away; aim for the middle of the mortar joint instead. This way, the risk of breaking the brick is reduced. Only about three-quarters of an inch or an inch deep of mortar should be removed.
Next, mortar has to be mixed to fill in the gaps left by the old mortar. This is usually a simple step for small repair jobs, however, if a larger repair is being made on several bricks, the age of the house should be considered. Older houses will be made with a weaker mortar mixture than the types sold in stores today. Consult a store employee on how to approach this problem. However, on small repairs, this will not make much of a difference.
Now, to actually fill in the mortar, the mortar hawk, pointing trowel, and joint strike tools will be needed. Put fresh mortar into the hawk, and hold it right under the joint. With the pointing trowel, shovel it in. Do not let any get on the face of the bricks. Once it starts to dry, strike the joints with a joint strike tool.
The only thing left to do is keep the new joint very moist during the next few days. After thoroughly drenching the area, duct tape some plastic around it to keep the moisture in. This allows the mixture to cure properly. Once a few days past, the work is done, and no one will need to worry about getting tuckpointing done for quite a bit.
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