What is tuckpointing? Can I do it myself?
Mark Maupin Jr. Explores Tuck-pointing
Repairing your cracked mortar joints may not be as difficult as you think. With the purchase of a few tools, anyone can tackle some basic tuckpionting repairs. Most of these tools can be purchased at your local hardware, Home Depot, or Lowes stores. You will need a masonry trowel, a tuck pointer, either a circular saw or an angle grinder equipped with a diamond blade, and of course mortar ( I recommend type S red mix mortar), and a jointing tool.
To begin with, you will want to remove the cracked and damaged mortar. To do this you will carefully saw or grind out the damaged mortar. You will want to clean out the mortar joints, making sure they are at least ¾ of an inch deeper than the existing joint depth. Make sure to cover any dust sensitive areas with a tarp, wear a respirator, and safety glasses: this is VERY dusty work.
Once you have cleaned out the old mortar joints, mix up some mortar - I have found that leaving the mortar stiff makes for a much neater job. Scoop up a trowel full of mortar and set your trowel next to the exposed joint. Now, take your tuck pointer and pack the mortar into the joint. When you cannot pack any more mortar into the joint, run your jointing tool along the length of the joint. This is somewhat tedious and detail-oriented work, but with a little patience, most do it yourselfers can do a competent tuck-pointing repair.
http://www.brickrepairllc.com
Mark Maupin 248-895-7752
Mark Maupin Jr. Explores Tuck-pointing
Repairing your cracked mortar joints may not be as difficult as you think. With the purchase of a few tools, anyone can tackle some basic tuckpionting repairs. Most of these tools can be purchased at your local hardware, Home Depot, or Lowes stores. You will need a masonry trowel, a tuck pointer, either a circular saw or an angle grinder equipped with a diamond blade, and of course mortar ( I recommend type S red mix mortar), and a jointing tool.
To begin with, you will want to remove the cracked and damaged mortar. To do this you will carefully saw or grind out the damaged mortar. You will want to clean out the mortar joints, making sure they are at least ¾ of an inch deeper than the existing joint depth. Make sure to cover any dust sensitive areas with a tarp, wear a respirator, and safety glasses: this is VERY dusty work.
Once you have cleaned out the old mortar joints, mix up some mortar - I have found that leaving the mortar stiff makes for a much neater job. Scoop up a trowel full of mortar and set your trowel next to the exposed joint. Now, take your tuck pointer and pack the mortar into the joint. When you cannot pack any more mortar into the joint, run your jointing tool along the length of the joint. This is somewhat tedious and detail-oriented work, but with a little patience, most do it yourselfers can do a competent tuck-pointing repair.
http://www.brickrepairllc.com
Mark Maupin 248-895-7752
posted by Ralph Marcus (Mark) Maupin | 4:18 PM
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