Step 01Look
Read the wall
We scratch the joints with a key. If the mortar crumbles to sand, or the joint is recessed more than a finger-joint deep, it is due. Sound joints are left alone.
Service · Repointing & restoration
Repointing,done by hand.
Tired mortar lets water in. Scroll and watch the wall behind: old joints are raked out, then lime is pushed back in and struck, one course at a time.
20–25 mmRaked to twice the joint width, no deeper.
LimeSofter than the brick, so the joint wears first.
No grinderChisel and plugging chisel only.
Step 02Rake
Rake out
Hand tools, working the perpends first and beds second. A grinder cuts into the brick arris and widens the joint for good, so we do not use one.
Step 03Prepare
Brush & dampen
Dust out, brick wetted so it does not drink the water from fresh lime. Too dry and the new joint fails; too wet and it stains.
Step 04Point
Push, fill, strike
Perpends first, then beds, in layers no thicker than 10 mm. Struck to match the original profile once the mortar is thumb-hard, then brushed back.
Mortar guideTypical, we test each wall
Which lime for which brick
| Brick | Mortar | Mix by volume |
|---|---|---|
| Soft, pre-1900 stocks | NHL 2 or lime putty | 1 : 3 |
| Victorian and Edwardian stocks | NHL 3.5 | 1 : 2.5 |
| 1930s machine-made facings | NHL 3.5 or gauged lime | 1 : 2 : 8 (cem : lime : sand) |
| Engineering and hard modern | Sand and cement, gauged | 1 : 1 : 6 |