Tuckpointing: Replacing deteriorated mortar with fresh new mortar between bricks and stones
Brick and stone building will remain sound for centuries with little maintenance, unless they are subjected to elements, like in the northern climates. But even here ( in Canada ), the only threat to masonry is water followed by frost. In all cases, when we are called to do tuckpointing, it is always from a faulty eaves trough, poorly functioning window sill or water wicking up from the ground into the stone or brick walls, and then freezing. This causes the mortar to disintegrate and bricks to spall ( break up ). If you don’t let masonry walls get wet, there will be little or no maintenance.
When we do tuck pointing, we match the colour exactly and we take care to leave the texture of the new mortar the same as the adjoining mortar joints so you can hardly tell where we did a re-pointing job.
