House re-pointing......help

Sentinal73

Hi,

I've always known that my house pointing isnt 100% but last night i was poking around at it and the screwdriver just pushed through the mortar easily. Seemed as though the mortar had turned to sand, right through to the internal cavity.

Not sure if it is like this all around the house. Its a 1930's semi, which is currently painted.


Anyone have any ideas? I guess i would need a builder to repoint it all? or is it something that i could do myself?

HappyG1rl

Sentinal73 wrote: »

Hi,

I've always known that my house pointing isnt 100% but last night i was poking around at it and the screwdriver just pushed through the mortar easily. Seemed as though the mortar had turned to sand, right through to the internal cavity.

Not sure if it is like this all around the house. Its a 1930's semi, which is currently painted.


Anyone have any ideas? I guess i would need a builder to repoint it all? or is it something that i could do myself?

Re-pointing is definitely something you can do yourself. It isn't difficult - just tedious and time-consuming. You need to take out the old stuff to a depth of at least 1/2" with a hammer and chisel.

The important thing then is to use the right mortar consistency (1:1:6 Cement:Lime:Builders' sand) and spray the wall with water just before doing that section of mortar so that the bricks don't take too much moisture from the fresh mortar. Just takes a bit of practice of using the trowel to put the mortar in (lots tends to drop on the floor until you get used to the technique).

Also try not to get mortar on the bricks or clean it off with a wire brush as you go along - it's a nightmare trying to get it off afterwards. You can buy a small tool for shaping the mortar when its almost dry (don't know what it is called though). Are you saying the bricks and mortar of your house are painted? - if so, I'll guess it will need re-painting when the pointing is all dry.

Sentinal73

Thanks

My main worry is that because i can remove all of the pointing right into the cavity i feel as though ithe pointing is weak

So i could remove an inch of old pointing leaving some weaking stuff in and replace it with good mortar? or should i remove as much of the old stuff as possible even though there would be hardly any left?

thanks

i will be painting the house once the pointing is dry

HappyG1rl

I don't know what you should do to be honest as it does sound as if it is very sandy. Obviously by raking out an inch and putting in decent mortar it will be stronger than it is at the mo.
I personally wouldn't remove as much of the mortar as possible if there will be very little left - I think maybe you need to get a professional to look at it if so much of it can be so easily removed.

Poppycat

We once had our front repointed a 2 bedroom terraced and it took about a day to do.

You can get repointing trowels and troughs I think thats what they are called to load mortar into the brick without marking them, as its harder to clean bricks once dry.

coolagarry

Sentinal. It may be that only the area that you poked is that bad. But in any case I would certainly remove all that sandy stuff, if it came away that easily, and replace it with proper mortar. (Obviously only do about a yard at a time so that the house doesn't fall down !!) As stated before, it is not a difficult job. Just tedious

Sentinal73

thanks everyone, will tackle it myself over the next few weeks, have some new windows going in soon, so want to do it asap

can someone let me know the mix ratio? many thanks

lush_walrus

The thing to be careful with is what end result and look you want to achieve. Flush pointing generally not a good look, but search around for the different types of pointing and find the one that suits a 1930s house and stick with that for the whole facade.