Repointing Old Brickwork - Best Mix & Tools

Ive just done an entite wall and need to talk about the mortar gun. I tried it with pre-mix and it just clogged, even though the mix claimed it was for pointing.

One phone call to the absolutely excellent customer support line of Roughneck tools and i was advised to not use pre-mix but make sure it was very soft building sand. The type that makes your hands go yellow/orange when you run it on your hands.

Mixed about 4 or 5 to 1 with a bit of plasticiser and my god, what a difference!

I've pointed a lot in the past, though I'm no builder (sparks and plumbing)
This mortar gun comes in my top 5 of time-saving tools. It's awesome. Even my father in law was converted and he's been a brickie for 40+ years.

I'll never go back to getting the mortar in with a trowel.

Quickpoint is the gun to have.

"we only need the tiniest tiniest drop (of plasticiser)" .....while squeezing a lot more than the tiniest drop in 😅

Thanks for the video, very informative and helpful. Great attitude and humility considering the wealth of knowledge you are sharing.

Did I hear once that mortar should slant slightly from top to bottom to allow rain to run off

I done my whole house with a finger trowel and a home made tuck board out of a plaster trowel I managed to do half the depth of the brick and fill the frog up took me a long time

A great teacher.

Jesus wept.
Another ha'penny a yard and you could have rendered it.

So I have an old brick school house over 100 yrs old so I can't just use a bag of sakrete type n mortar mix

6:1:1 if your using cement helps to cut the excess of the wall with the slasher Before it’s ironed in gotta catch it early

My mixes are clearly too wet

What width tuckpointer are you using here? I’m about to start repointing a 1920’s red brick house and not sure what’s best. Cheers

Best repointing vid I've seen by far!

Pointing guns are alright, I've used one today. The mortar has to be very well mixed otherwise you just push the water out, plus you need the joints to be properly raked out to at least a depth of 30mm and more if you can. The pointing gun will really push the mortar well in as well, but when you are only repointing shallow joints that are barely 10mm deep like you are a tuck pointer, trowel and hawk like you are doing is the best. Its always a good idea to soak the wall this time of year as well.

use lime ? not cement. I have issue with cement

Used this excellent video to redo my pointing. Thanks!

nice job and advice once again

should have wet the joints before you started, mortar too wet hence the smudging, that only my opinion

As a Chartered Building Surveyor of 40+ experience I usually think your advice is good but you’ve described this as Tuck pointing on another of your sessions. On this sessions you do later correctly call it Struck pointing. Tuck pointing and it’s poor cousin Bastard Tuck pointing is totally different and definitely not a DIY subject, only ever met one bricklayer who could do well. Otherwise your advice on pointing is spot on.

Doing it slow not the brick layers ive worked with they had a slicker and would probably be done that wall in five minutes also they hated putting gawk on wall like that

This guy is such an excellent teacher

Very watchable video. The face that appears in the brickwork for a few seconds about 8 mins in was a bit spooky. Thought I was seeing things at first. 😄

Given that there are so many types of masonry walls, getting the pointing right is not quite so simple as it might first appear. Generally speaking, joints should be raked out to at least twice their width, mortar pointing is a sacrificial material and should be weaker and more porous than the bricks, and the finished profile should ideally match the original design. Mortar must be compatible with the original materials and this is critical in the case of solid walls built using lime mortar as they need to dry out by evaporation. If you require reliable guidance on repointing, do take the trouble to read the Building Research Establishment publication “Good Repair Guide No 24” (Repointing external brickwork walls) as this provides useful information, including when does worn pointing affect structural integrity. As a general rule, impermeable finishes should not be applied to external walls as this inhibits evapourative during and tends to trap moisture.

This an arduous and tedious task as well as being hard work on your hands and arms. Patience and a careful approach is essential. Not a job to be rushed. Rogers’s advice on the 5 to 1 mix is crucial in getting the right consistency.

Hi, my house was built in the 1930s. I’m looking to get the house repointed, would I use lime?

Great job I'm surprised you've not mentioned the half round jointer . Most common finish. That also pushes/compresses thr mortar

Superb! I need the back of a terraced house done top to bottom.

Great video

Brilliant as ever!

Thanks for the video, and really nice music!

I echo all the other comments - what a great video! Clear,concise and no nonsense, why aren't they all like you? Many thanks for sharing your skills and enthusiasms, much appreciated...

Is pointing something that can be done DIY to a high standard? Our whole house needs repointing asap and we cannot afford to pay a professional.

I used to mix for a pointing gang in Germany some 40 years ago (can't believe I just wrote that - where did those years go..!). Over there the brickies on a new build didn't point the wall as they went along. A specialist pointing gang would come in after the brickwork was done and finish off the pointing later. We'd use a much drier mx than shown here - it was just damp, and use a straight trowel the same as shown in the video - not a UK style pointing trowel, which is really slow as Roger says - and a curved hawk - always home made. And man, those German pointers were REALLY fast. thinking back it was about 10 seconds for a linear metre. They'd finish off with a bent piece of 15mm copper pipe bent in the same shape as the pointing trowel (Roger is using a bit of wood here) and a soft brush as suggested. They'd always have a beer on the go too... No, really. Happy days.

Cheers Roger, pointing guns are frustrating tools to use, a Marshalltown Tuck Pointer is just what I needed 👍

Would a 5:1 mix also be a safe bet for building with 100+ year old reclaimed bricks?

soft brush west minster smudge as a young man my uncle give me a job during the holes from school hoidening bricks and the raking out and pointing weather struck six weeks i got good at it but seeing bricks in me sleep its hard work i am now a 40 yrs plus plumber still remember it lol.

Hi Roger, that's amazingly good and fast work. I have learned so much from you in the last couple of weeks. My Victorian semi has been pointed before we bought it but unfortunately the mortar is shallow and very hard resulting in quite a few of the bricks blown. I plan to stormdry (thanks to your video) over them to seal out any more moisture (dryrod at the base too) Can I just use a 3:1 mix like you instead of lime mortar as I have heard lime is supposed to be used for older houses like mine which was built with lime mortar ?

Just watched this again - it really is an excellent video. Fantastic for the DIYer.

This is good stuff. The algorithm got it right this time.

Plumbers nowadays don’t even do guttering. Apparently it’s a job for us carpenters. I’m 100% sure it wasn’t part of our apprenticeship in the 1980’s. Nice to know a plumber who will turn his hand.

What size is the tuck pointer?

Good vid, thanks.
I’m repointing the whole side wall of my house and it’s coming along ok. The bricks are textured though with diagonal ridges which makes it quite difficult.

Right to left for a right hander mate

Just will save you some grief as ya go

Decent tho

Thank goodness. No weatherstruck pointing! What is it with builders everywhere, refurbishing houses with weatherstruck re pointing, ruining the appearance of old houses?

I've found plastering sand works well with a cement gun. Not too soft and has bit of stone. Also I find if you point too soon you get stains. There's no right or wrong way. Nice work bud

That's the best video I've seen for a long time! I've got a lot to do and a lot to learn. I've got 1920's and Victorian needing a LOT of work - a big project for the summer. Your tips about the mix is absolutely fantastic. I can now see where all old repairs (done by professionals apparently!) have failed and pinked the bricks out with them. All the original stuff is lime mortar and its been badly bodged over the years with really nasty grey super hard cement doing more damage. I've got a big job on but you have just inspired me to tackle it and I will enjoy doing it a bit at a time. Thank you so much!

Ah I was trying to figure out by myself on a test wall and got to the hawk and finger trowel (what they call it over here) as my approach for the horizontals. Verticals were a pain. All gaps horizontal and vertical, were different widths and depths, a crazy wall... Fingers... that was what was most effective for verticals the majority of the time!!
I wanted the bent mental tool you showed for scraping - but couldn't get one anywhere. Bought a few different diameter pipes, cut down and ach, it for sure needs to be bent to be more effective... will try for the next half of the wall :) Your mix was definitely looking more wet than mine... its all drying nicely though... would maybe be easier with wetter, to do those verticals... now just to think whether I should really try to do it different and risk to much contrast between the halves of the wall! 5x3.5m wall being done!

Pointing waist off 📴 time!