Owning a home that has exposed brickwork on the outside saves you from the hassle of the upkeep with costly exterior painting. Adding to the cost of painting the outside of a house is the inconvenience of most often needing to rent scaffolding during the weeks of the painting.

However, brickwork will eventually decay and the cement or lime mortar joints will crumble, no longer protecting the home from water damage, allowing the ingress of water. When you notice signs of missing mortar or crumbling cracked bricks, it is essential to call in the builder to repair the brickwork or repoint the mortar. 

Repointing the brick is called this because the builder will use a pointed trowel, chipping out the old mortar and replacing it with new mortar. Builders may refer to this process as pointing, repointing or even tuckpointing.

How often should a house be repointed?

Being exposed to weather and softer materials than brickwork, mortar joints will deteriorate over time but a well built wall of brickwork, the mortar should last for 50 years before needing to be repointed. 

During the 50 years, there may be a small section around a brick or two that would need to be tuckpointed if this was particularly exposed to more damp than the rest of the wall as mortar joints will not break down wherever water might pool around them; e.g., under a window or around a chimney.

Can you repoint over old mortar?

Houses built before World War II, the mortar is likely a mix of lime putty and sand. Houses built in the last 50 years are cement based mortar. The builder must match the mortar used otherwise it will not bound and moisture could get trapped in the wall. Traditional lime mortar flexes with the brick's movement while allowing moisture to move easily out of the wall.

The builder will be aware that placing new mortar on top of loose crumbling mortar will not work, so the builder will first dig out some of the old mortar, especially any that is loose. Then apply the layer of new fresh mortar, pushing it into the joints, having to bond solidly with the old mortar.

Crumbly or powdery mortar will be easy to scrape out but some older mortar may need to be chiselled out. The builder will be careful to not loosen or chip the bricks around the mortar, damaging brickwork.

How much will it cost to repair brickwork and repoint?

Repointing brickwork does not require expensive tools. Majority of the cost is the labour of the skilled builder and of course if any scaffolding is needed to reach higher areas of brickwork near the roof.

Finding an available builder to repoint will be easier if you are planning to do an entire wall, rather than a small section of repointing work. The benefit of repointing an entire wall, is that there will be a mortar colour match rather than obvious patchwork colour difference of a section of wall that has been tuckpointed.

What to do if my brickwork is crumbing?

Water, eroding through the brick and then freezing, can cause bricks to crumble and deteriorate. This is because bricks being porous, absorb moisture very easily. Too much moisture in a brick causes a brick to lose its waterproof properties which will eventually lead to the brick eroding and crumbling. 

If some bricks in the wall are showing signs of crumbling or have deep cracks running through them, then you will need to get these bricks cut out by a builder and replaced with matching colour bricks. To avoid any structural damage to your home, it is best to not try and undertake this mammoth job yourself.

The builder will seal in the new bricks as well as cut out the old compromised mortar and replace it by repointing or tuckpointing the mortar with new mortar.

How to know when brickwork needs replacing or repointing?

If your home has exposed brickwork, when you are spending time outside, always be aware of the state your brickwork is in, especially if your home is an older house.

Some signs of deterioration to watch out for;

Damaged bricks
Not only does damaged or crumbling bricks look unsightly, but they will be allowing moisture to seep into your home and the structure of the wall may no longer be as solid. Badly damaged brickwork will need the bricks to be cut out and replaced, similarly to how one would cut out and remove a broken tile from a wall. Make sure the builder gets a brick that matches the rest of the wall.

Failed pointing
If the brickwork has been pointed incorrectly (perhaps modern cement mortar was used instead of lime mortar) this could cause the pointing to fail. It might be noticed by having frozen moisture sitting on the brickwork causing the brick to crumble.

Efflorescence
These are white deposits that form on brickwork because of dissolved salts in water rising to the surface of the brick.

Although efflorescence does not harm the brickwork, it is unsightly and if brickwork is causing efflorescence, then best to cut out and replace the bricks.

Accidentally damaged surface
If the surface of the brickwork has been cleaned with an abrasive material, and has rubbed off the protective layer of brickwork, the brick will need to be cut out and replaced as it will no longer be weather resistant, protecting your home.

Damp
Any signs of damp inside your home might be from the brickwork or the mortar allowing water to penetrate through, destroying your plaster and paint on the inside walls, leaving clear signs of damp damage. Faulty gutters can cause water to come into contact with bricks, so if you notice a gutter or downpipe leaving a lot of water on the brickwork, fix this before water starts seeping through the brickwork.

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