Repointing: can I do it or is it specialist work?
Question:I have a 110 year old house suffering from damp. The mortar has receded in many places.
Answers:
There are 3 common mistakes people make with old houses :-
1) Ground level outside can be too high and cause damp.
2) They try to repoint using cement and don't realise that this traps the moisture in the wall. Lime mortar in the wall allows it to breath.
3) Only loose lime needs raked out and repointed, otherwise leave it.
Rain hits the walls, soaks in and then breathes out. Nowadays, people paint the inside and cement the outside, so where does the damp go? In your house. See it all the time. Lady ays "Why do I have a damp patch in my house all of a sudden". "Because you had the back re-pointed". "Yes, how did you know that" and so on.
Get someone in who knows what they're doing because it sound like you're going to f@$k your house if you follow the advice from the others.
NEVER use Thomsons water seal.
You can do it yourself - just takes time
you can do it yourself but be careful because after you are done you have to wash the excess off with lye. ( has acid in it)
Easy - even a bimbo like me can do that ... a bit of bendy metal and a bucket of that - you know cement stuff.. dont pay someone to do that..
The first thing to do is install a damp proof course ( this is hard work and can be done several different ways ) Only then should you go about doing any re-pointing - anyone can do it but it's long and laboriouus.... Takl to a surveyor for what's best for YOUR house as the construction type differs for each type of house even ones 110 years old.
Fairly easy but tedious. I used a small angle grinder to remove the old stuff. Be careful not to make the re-pointing mortar mix too strong either, prob about 5 or 6 to 1. You can buy dinky little pointing trowels to get the mortar into the cavity - be sure to wet the cavity first to help the mortar to stick and try not to get too much on the brick faces or it's a bu**er to get off once it's dried.
easy job for yourself . just mix your sand cement mix quite dry a Little at a time 1/2 to 1 bucket will keep you going for a while . you must first remove the old pointing then get a float or hawk with the cement mix and use a pointing trowel small enough to go between the joints and push the mixture in quite hard. when you have done a small area go over the area with a small soft brush to remove excess . The dry mix should not run or stain the surrounding area and also start from the top and work down so you dont mess up the work you have finished
Talking about sucky work. Most houses of that age are 2-3 stories. That will make the upper sec. very hard to do and un safe with a ladder. This project will take a ton of time. It can be done by someone with basic skills. Use great cation on starting this proj. It could look bad if all the research isnt done on how to do it. It is pretty easy to caulk the seams. They make a caulk tube just for this. Make sure all the water is gone from the craks and to have a small detail brush ( about 2") to wipe the area out before caulking. The Finish is what you will need to learn. It is kind of an art form. Hold the caulk tube just right the correct amount of pressure and the correct amount of caulk per inch. Start in a low profile place and teach yourself the tech.
Good luck. Drink lots of water. It is going to get hot.
I'm sure you can do a better job than the cowboy who did mine.
Proper pointing requires specialist skill, don't even think of it.
well best thing ou can do is have a go yourself on a small area and see how it looks , if your happy with it just carry on , if not find a company with good rep and get them to do it
yes ---5sand 1cement mix not too wet flop it into joints wait until it gets drier. either brush out or and use a bent rod to make your design . just be patient dont do these things when wet.because you will stain bricks or stone.
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