Pointing Brickwork

[Iwasgoodonce]

I think he means giving the mortar line a nice finish. I used a tent peg, (one of the ones that looks like it is made from small angle iron) to drag along the line.

 

[badbaz77]

Hi

Use hose for applying the mortar and then getting a nice finish.

Bazza

 

[orangeone]

you can get a router that fits in a drill and it will chase the old mortar out plus it is more control able than a grinder. Use a pointing trowl for the pointing it is the cleanest way plus you get the muck in the joint all the way. Use the hose to joint it by doing the brick joints first then do the bed joint. let the mortar go off a bit so you don't drag it out then brush off with a very soft brush. If you use the mortar gun you run the risk of the mortar cracking abd falling out as the gun has not pushed deep enough into the joint. if you put up a picture of the wall I can tell you what mix you want and the type of sand you need.

 

[SteveKlein]

I would be very hesitant to use an angle grinder - I've seen too many people get 'enthusiastic' with them and end up grinding the faces of the bricks and really **** the wall up. You will end up with loads of grinding cuts on the brick faces and this will just encourage water to get behind the face of the brick, freeze, and then blow the face of the brick off.

I would not use this method at all.

I owned a late Victorian house with lime mortar that was in bad shape and ended up just using a selection of old chisels to rake out the old mortar. It is more time consuming but infinitely neater. You wont regret taking your time and doing it carefully.

I was thinking of one of these rather than a disc type cutter, which correct me if I'm wrong I think what you mean

No that wasn't what I meant - I meant getting hold of some old chisels of varying widths and raking/pushing the old mortar out to the correct depth. Once you've been doing it for a few minutes you'll be surprised how you can manage to rake out to a uniform depth.
Use a soft brush with long bristles (paintbrush will do) to get rid of the remaining loose brick dust between the bricks and then start repointing.

Also my experience of mortar guns are that they end up just squeezing all the liquid out of the mortar - I wouldn't bother if I were you.

Enjoy !!

 

[longun]

grinder with an 8mm grinding disc, not carbide whatever theyre called, proper ones dont bite anywhere near as much. the router type attachments are good but with softwr type bricks tend to damage the bricks if your not really carful. you can use a plugging chisel but your arms will wreck after 30 mins, it is the safer option though.

however, whatever obtion you feel safe with and decide to use, make sure you grind out around 20-25mm and square, this is the ideal finish as you get a nice clean joint to fill in. when its all ground out, hose the wall, this will remove any dust etc and give the mortar a key to the original. apply anything dry and it will drag away or go off too quickly. take your time and make sure you fill the joints fully, on houses i tent to use a nicely worn pointing trowel or decorators trowel, the best process i find is to fill the joints completely flush to an area of about 1m square then either weather struck the joints or use a marshal town jointing iron to give a half round finish. both are just as good but the half round is about 1/3 quicker . make sure you comoress the mortar, never rake owt out, this will weaken the joint. the mix i use for houses is 5:1 sand/cement with normal plasticizor but you could use lime if you have any. the mix needs to be slighlty stiffer than thick toothpaste, too runny and it will smudge everything, too stiff and it will be difficult to point in. if the bricks are engineering, you can wipe everything down with cavity insulation off cuts and then rinse after a day or so.............think that covers it, oh yeah, dont forget your PPE and be carful on any accesss equipment.