Re-point bricks, best product? Or how to?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Re-point bricks, best product? Or how to?

JayADee

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#290768 3-Dec-2021 07:14

Hi,

What's the best thing to use to repoint some bricks in situ without having to grind out the old mortar first?

It's for edging and garden bricks where I just want to patch them up without taking out any more mortar first.

The old mortar is pretty weathered in places.

I'm looking for something that will stick well in fairly shallow places.

Will regular mortar mix work ok or should I go with general purpose cement or…

Thanks for any advice.

rogercruse

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#2823578 3-Dec-2021 09:12

Why not find a brickie to do the work?

Had to have an vent installed through the outside wall for the Tumble Dryer installed and I found a local brickie to do the job. As it was on our new build house, the brickwork was fine and I saved a couple of bricks leftover from the build so that the brickie could finish the job nicely.

Much quicker, simpler and cheaper that me making a mess!

Bung

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#2823587 3-Dec-2021 09:30

Are the joints horizontal? Your 1st problem will probably getting the old mortar clean. I'd experiment with a water blaster to see if it would clean all the dirt and mould and loose mortar out of the joint. If it is just a few spots mix some mortar mix. If it is a bigger area try sweeping dry mortar mix into the joints and misting with water. As usual there will be a ton of YT clips covering this.

Eva888

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#2823616 3-Dec-2021 10:26

Mr E did this yesterday. He makes a cone out of newspaper with a small cut opening, then puts the dry mortar mix into the cone, mainly cement. He then just pours it into the gaps, tapping the cone bottom a bit to help the flow. Afterwards gentle sprinkle with the hose.

We have old weathered bricks that are what one would call rustic looking. I had water-blasted them first to remove moss but that also removed some cracked mortar thus the need to re-point.

JayADee

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#2823741 3-Dec-2021 12:43

I have a fair bit of horizontal (top of bricks) and some ventricle (side faces).
I plan on water blasting them first and also picking out anything loose mortar wise. One brick is completely off… I'll mortar it back on.
I might try the fill dry with mortar mix add water thing on the horizontal faces. I actually had some success doing that last year with part of a left over bag of cement sprinkled along a row of also-garden bricks along my driveway. Added water on a mist setting from the hose as an experiment since there was nothing to lose. It ended up making a pretty nice finish along a water runoff channel.

Eva888

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#2823752 3-Dec-2021 13:15

Admit the reason for the cone system was because last time I hit the roof when he tried the old way of shaking over all the bricks and sweeping it on, we ended up with cement bloom and hard to get rid of mortar everywhere. This way is clean. Get a small step stool to sit on as you do it and it’s quite easy and satisfying.

neb

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#2823913 3-Dec-2021 17:09

JayADee:
What's the best thing to use to repoint some bricks in situ without having to grind out the old mortar first?

A bricklayer.

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JayADee

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#2830690 12-Dec-2021 14:50

Over the course of a few days I ended up chipping mortar out of a lot of bricks with a hammer and chisel to get a deep enough gap to fill which was pretty easy thanks to very soft, old mortar. I used a combination of dry filling with a tea spoon (and a brush) and misting for too hard to reach or very narrow cracks and mixed trade mortar and repoint the regular way where possible. It worked out very well and the new mortar had enough set time before the weather turned. Now the rain is keeping it damp for me which was why I worked very hard to get it done and a concrete footer added yesterday. Both completed areas are looking much better! Another long neglected job to tick off the list.