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The mortar joints between your bricks do far more than just hold them apart—they act as your home's primary defence against the elements. Over time, wind, rain, and frost naturally degrade this mortar. When it begins to crack, crumble, or recede, your walls become vulnerable to water ingress, damp, and structural issues.
Repointing is the process of carefully raking out this damaged mortar and replacing it with fresh, high-quality material, restoring both the strength and the weatherproofing of your property.
Warning Signs
Mortar failure isn't always obvious at a casual glance, but there are several clear warning signs that indicate it's time to take action.
The most obvious sign. If you can see missing chunks of mortar, or if it crumbles to dust when you touch it, the joint has failed.
If the mortar has worn back by more than 5mm to 10mm from the front face of the brick, water can begin to pool on the exposed brick edges, leading to rapid deterioration.
When external mortar fails, rainwater penetrates the brickwork. If you notice localised damp spots, peeling wallpaper, or blistering paint inside your home, failed pointing is a common culprit.
When water gets trapped behind compromised mortar and freezes, it expands. This pressure can cause the faces of the bricks themselves to crack, flake, or pop off entirely.
A white, salty residue on your external walls indicates that water is moving freely through the brickwork and drawing out natural salts.
How We Do It
A proper repointing job is all about preparation. Rushing the job or simply "smearing" new mortar over old, loose material will fail within a few seasons. We follow a strict, professional process to ensure a clean finish that lasts for decades.
We inspect the brickwork to determine the original mortar type (such as traditional lime or modern cement) to ensure the new mix matches perfectly in strength, flexibility, and colour. Areas are safely zoned off, and windows/doors are protected.
Using specialised dust-extracted routing tools, we carefully remove the damaged mortar to a uniform depth (usually around 15mm–20mm). We cut back to a clean, sound surface without damaging the edges of your original bricks.
All loose debris and dust are thoroughly brushed or washed out of the open joints. Wetting the joints just before pointing ensures the bricks don't suck the moisture out of the fresh mortar too quickly, which would cause it to crack.
The new mortar is firmly packed into the joints in layers. We use traditional hand-pointing techniques to ensure there are no air pockets and that the bond between the mortar and brick is completely watertight.
Once the mortar has began to set slightly, we "strike" or profile the joint (such as a weather-struck or flush finish) to match the style of your property and ensure rainwater sheds away from the joint cleanly.
We brush down the entire wall face to remove any stray mortar tags, leaving a neat, professional, and visually striking finish that completely refreshes the look of your property.
Simply slapping a thin layer of new mortar over old, crumbling joints (known as "face pointing") is a short-term fix. Without raking out to a proper depth of at least 15mm, the new mortar cannot form a mechanical bond and will quickly flake off during winter frosts.
Get a free, no-obligation quote for your repointing project. We cover all of Dorset and Hampshire.
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