Repointing

Repointing

Propoint south west is renowned throughout the south west as specialists in repointing brickwork Our expertise is acknowledged by accreditations from highly-regarded professional organisations. Every client and their property, whether small or large, modern, listed or commercial, can have confidence in our outstanding levels of technical skill and service.

What is pointing — and why does it fail?

Pointing is the external part of the mortar joints laid between the bricks or flint work of a building. It must perform several vital functions including the prevention of water penetration, while allowing the wall to breathe. Age, weathering and decay are some of the contributing factors that can lead to joint voids where water may penetrate and a mortar repair, also called repointing, becomes necessary.

Repointing

Repointing not only restores the integrity of the brickwork, but significantly improves the cosmetic appearance of the building.

It’s crucial that the mortar used for repointing has similar performance characteristics to the original mortar. Strength and permeability must be assessed; for example, if a hard mortar repair is used on soft bricks, the bricks will degrade faster — and will be expensive to rectify.

Part of our initial professional assessment involves taking samples of the mortar to ensure that the correct sand and binder are used, as well as ensuring that the repointing is matched as closely as possible to the original pointing mortar.

The pointing process: what’s involved?

The old mortar must be removed by a minimum of 20mm, ensuring that all mortar is removed to the top and bottom of the joint. We use 5″ angle grinders equipped with diamond mortar raking blades and dust extraction hoovers. If the use of power tools is inappropriate for the building, hand repointing tools including comb hammers are used.

The walls are then washed down to remove all loose dust from the joints in preparation for pointing. When applying the new mortar, the use of a traditional hawk and trowel means highly-efficient application into the joint, ensuring there are no voids; the mortar is then shaped to the required finish.

Different pointing mortar finishes

Our highly-skilled team can offer a number of brick pointing styles to enhance a mortar repair:

• Flush: a nice flat finish to the face of the brickwork (generally seen on old lime mortar properties)
• Bucket Handle (compressed rubbed finish): a concave finish used on properties since the 1950s
• Recessed: this flat finish is recessed by 3mm from the face of the brick
• Weather struck pointing: a popular style that is slightly angled and cut on the brick edge