Tuckpointing & Repointing

This is the process of cutting out fretting mortar joints or in some cases joints which have been repointed over the years with the wrong materials i.e. cement based mortar and then repointing with a suitable lime based mortar. This can be done either as work proceeds, by striking off the bedding mortar flush with the face of the masonry, or as a separate exercise if the outer part of bedding mortar has been deliberately left recessed or is raked back from the surface.

For brickwork and stonework, the width, profile and the texture of the joints affect their visual character. Often these respond to locally available materials and can have a local distinctiveness. Traditional mass-masonry wall construction (which includes most walls built before 1919) works on the basis that moisture entering a wall is able to escape as water and water vapour as easily as possible. Lime mortars can readily handle the transmission of water and water vapour between the inside and outside of a masonry wall, owing to the complex interconnected pore structure of masonry.