Tuckpointing near you

The federal guidance is unusually direct on this point because it has seen the consequences so often. The decision to repoint is most often related to some obvious sign of deterioration such as disintegrating mortar, cracks in mortar joints, loose bricks or stones, damp walls or damaged plasterwork. But, it continues, it is erroneous to assume that repointing alone will solve deficiencies that result from other problems.

The named root causes are a short list any homeowner can check: leaking roofs or gutters, differential settlement of the building, capillary action causing rising damp, and extreme weather exposure. All of these should always be dealt with prior to beginning work, and the consequence of skipping that step is stated plainly: without appropriate repairs to eliminate the source of the problem, mortar deterioration will continue and any repointing will have been a waste of time and money.

The illustration the Park Service uses is the one you are most likely to be looking at. Where mortar has been leached away by water from a leaking downspout, the downspout must be replaced and any other drainage problems repaired before repointing. A quote that prices joints without mentioning the gutter directly above them is quoting the symptom.

Sand decides how the finished joint looks, because it is the largest component by volume and the material that gives mortar its distinctive color, texture and cohesiveness. The federal guidance prefers rounded or natural sand over crushed or manufactured sand for two reasons: it is usually similar to the sand in the historic mortar and gives a better visual match, and it has better working qualities, so it can be forced into the joint more easily and make good contact with the remaining mortar and the masonry. Gradation matters too, with the guidance pointing to the relevant ASTM specification for particle size distribution and noting that matching the appearance and gradation of an existing sand usually requires sieving.

Prebagged masonry cement is the specific product to ask about, because it is what a crew in a hurry will buy. The Park Service describes it as a preblended mix commonly found at hardware and home repair stores, notes that masonry cements are not required to contain hydrated lime and generally do not, and concludes that they produce high strength mortars that can damage historic masonry and generally are not recommended for use on historic masonry buildings. If your wall is soft old brick, that sentence is the whole argument.

Pigments have limits worth writing into a specification. Modern pigments can be added at the job site but should not exceed ten percent by weight of the portland cement in the mix, carbon black should be limited to two percent, and only synthetic mineral oxides, which are alkali-proof and sun-fast, should be used to prevent bleaching and fading. There is also a cold-climate note: air-entraining agents help mortar resist freeze-thaw damage in northern climates, which is a legitimate reason for an admixture in Minnesota and not much of one in Georgia.

New mortar goes in as layers rather than in one pass. The guidance describes applying roughly quarter-inch layers and allowing each one to harden before the next, because most of the shrinkage happens during hardening and layering minimizes the overall shrinkage. A joint filled in a single push will shrink away from the brick and open a hairline crack around itself.

Timing the tooling is what produces a uniform finish, and it is one of the few places where a homeowner can see the mistake afterwards. When the final layer is thumb-print hard, the joint should be tooled to match the historic joint. Tooled too soft, the color will be lighter than expected and hairline cracks may occur; tooled too hard, there may be dark streaks called tool burning and the mortar will not close properly against the masonry.

Profile is the other visible decision. Where the old bricks or stones have worn, rounded edges, the guidance says it is best to recess the final mortar slightly from the face of the masonry, which avoids a joint that reads visually wider than it really is and avoids a large thin featheredge that is easily damaged and lets water in. Filling joints too full hides the actual joint thickness and changes the character of the brickwork, which is why over-full joints make a repointed wall look wrong even to people who cannot say why. After tooling, excess mortar is brushed off with a natural bristle or nylon brush, and the guidance is explicit that metal bristle brushes should never be used on historic masonry.

Mortar does not dry, it cures, and high-lime mortars in particular can be ruined by losing their water too fast. The federal guidance explains that a high-lime mortar left to dry out too rapidly can result in chalking, poor adhesion and poor durability, and that periodic wetting of the repointed area, once the joints are thumb-print hard and have been finish tooled, may significantly accelerate the process by which lime regains strength.

The routine is specific enough to hold a contractor to. Misting with a hand sprayer and a fine nozzle for a day or two after repointing is described as simple to do, with the frequency dictated by local conditions but possibly as often as every hour initially, gradually reduced to every three or four hours. Walls should be covered with burlap for the first three days after repointing, and where plastic is used instead it should be tented out and not placed directly against the wall, so the wall stays damp and shaded from direct sun.

This is the step most often skipped, because it costs labor on days when the visible work is already finished. It is also the step that decides whether the joints are still sound in twenty years. Ask specifically what the protection and curing plan is, and whether it is priced in.

There is a clause in the federal guidance that homeowners almost never know exists, and it is the most useful thing on this page. Where a repointing job is put out to competitive bid, the guidance says it is important to ensure that the specifications stipulate that masons must have a minimum of five years experience with repointing historic masonry buildings to be eligible to bid on the project. You can write the same line into a residential contract.

Two other clauses belong beside it. Staining the new mortar to achieve a better color match is generally not recommended, because old and new mortars may weather at different rates and the mixtures used to stain may introduce salts that cause efflorescence later; the guidance prefers letting properly matched mortars age naturally. And surface grouting, the thin cement coat sometimes offered as an alternative to repointing, cannot substitute for the more extensive work and is not a recommended treatment for historic masonry, partly because the inevitable residue left on the brick faces, called veiling, changes the look of the wall.

Cleaning belongs in the contract too, with a delay built in. New mortar joints are especially susceptible to damage because they do not become fully cured for several months, so the guidance says the mortar should be fully hardened before cleaning, with thirty days usually sufficient depending on weather and exposure. Chemical cleaners, particularly acids, should never be used on dry masonry: the wall should be completely soaked with water first and flushed again afterwards to remove all traces of the chemicals. If repointing was carefully executed there will be little cleaning to do beyond brushing mortar from the joint edges.

If your house is in a local historic district, a repointing project may need approval before it starts. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation are codified in federal regulation and, as the National Park Service notes, are the standards most often used by local historic district commissions nationwide, so the review body is very likely applying them to your brickwork.

Three of the ten bear directly on mortar. Distinctive features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a historic property shall be preserved, which covers original joint tooling as much as ornament. Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced, and where replacement is necessary the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture, and other visual qualities and, where possible, materials. And chemical or physical treatments, such as sandblasting, that cause damage to historic materials shall not be used, with surface cleaning undertaken using the gentlest means possible.

That last one is worth remembering when someone offers to clean the wall while they are up there. The repointing guidance separately notes that sandblasting is generally ineffective for removing efflorescence and should not be used for it, because it may liberate additional salts that lead to more efflorescence. Cleaning and pointing are two decisions, and neither should be made because the scaffold is already standing.

Tuckpointing quotes diverge for reasons that are easy to see once you know where to look: how many square feet of wall and which elevations, whether the work is spot repointing or a whole face, how the joints will be cut out and by whom, whether the mortar is a custom mix with a matched sand or a bag off a shelf, whether a sample or test area is being prepared and approved first, how the wall will be reached, and whether protection and curing are included in the price or quietly omitted from it.

LokalMatch is only where the search starts. You describe the wall once, with photographs and the approximate age of the house, note anything you know about previous repairs, and masons covering your ZIP code contact you directly; those pros pay for the requests they receive and it costs homeowners nothing. LokalMatch does not point brickwork, does not price it and does not vet, rank or recommend any mason, so the experience clause, the mortar specification, the curing plan and the insurance certificate are yours to insist on.