Repointing in Nieuwegein

Pointing lasts a long time, but not forever. After decades of rain, frost and sun the mortar washes out, starts to crumble or comes away from the brick. Then more water soaks into the wall than can get out again. You notice it from green growth, from sand you can pick out of the joint with your finger, and in an old house without a cavity wall from a damp inside wall after a shower. If the facade itself is worn out and you want a different look altogether, see facade cladding.

How a facade is repointed

First the old mortar comes out. That is done by hand with a chisel, or by machine with a grinder. The joint has to be cleared deep enough for the new mortar to hold on to something. Smearing new mortar over the old does not last: after a few winters it comes loose again.

Then the facade is cleaned, so no dust and grit stay behind in the joints. Just before pointing, the wall is dampened. A dry brick pulls the water out of fresh mortar, and then the joint bonds poorly and gets shrinkage cracks. Then the new mortar goes in, in two layers for deep joints. Finally the joint is finished in the shape you chose. The open weep joints at the bottom of the facade and above the window frames stay open: that is where moisture from the cavity runs out.

The mortar has to suit the brick

With an old house, this is where it goes wrong. A joint should be softer than the brick. In frost, and when the wall expands and shrinks, the joint has to be the weak point, because a joint can be redone and a brick cannot just be replaced.

In new builds the bricks are hard and a strong mortar is fine. Many older houses were built with softer brick and a lime mortar. Put a hard cement mortar in there, and the stress ends up in the brick. After a few winters the edges of the bricks spall off. With an old house, the first step is therefore to check what the facade was built with.

Joint style and colour

There are different ways to finish a joint. A flush joint sits level with the brick. A recessed joint sits slightly back, which gives shadow lines. A weathered or struck joint slopes, so water runs off it easily. The colour of the mortar changes the look of your facade more than you expect: a light mortar makes a red facade look lighter, a dark mortar calmer. You choose it beforehand, from a test patch or a facade nearby that you like.

Bricks, lintels and window frames

When the joints are raked out, things sometimes turn up that you could not see from outside: a brick that turns out to be loose, or a steel lintel above a window that is rusting. Loose bricks are fixed straight away. Anything bigger is discussed with you first. If bricks need replacing, or there is a crack, that is masonry. If new window frames are also planned, it pays to get the order right: first replace the window frames, then repoint, so the join around the new frame is done properly in one go.

Scaffolding and planning

The ground floor usually needs no scaffolding, the first floor and the gable do. Pointing is not done below about 5 degrees or when night frost is expected, and preferably not in bright sun or heavy rain, because the mortar then does not cure well. In winter, repointing is therefore often on hold for a while. You hear that beforehand.

How to start

Send a few photos of your facade through the contact page: one of the whole facade and one up close, where you can see the joints. An appointment is then made to come and have a look, and after that you get a price. That is possible in Nieuwegein, Utrecht and the places around them.