The mortar between your bricks does a bigger job than most people realise. It holds the wall together, yes, but it also keeps water out. When that mortar starts crumbling and falling out, the wall stops shedding water the way it should, and up here in the North East that is a fast track to damp, frost damage and a much bigger repair down the line.
Repointing just means raking out the old, tired mortar and replacing it with fresh. Done properly it can add decades to a wall and smarten the whole place up at the same time. Done badly, or left too long, and you are looking at rebuilding sections that could have been saved.
Signs your pointing is on the way out
You do not need to be a bricklayer to spot the warning signs. Have a walk round the house and look for these.
- Mortar that crumbles away when you rub it with a finger or a key - Gaps, cracks or bits missing between the bricks - Mortar that has gone soft, sandy or powdery - Bricks that feel loose or move slightly when pushed - Damp patches showing up on the inside of an external wall - Green algae or moss taking hold in the joints, which means water is sitting there
Why the weather up here is hard on pointing
Our climate is about the worst thing going for old mortar. Rain gets into the tiny cracks, then a cold snap freezes it, the water expands and forces the crack wider. That happens over and over through a North East winter, and it slowly breaks the joint apart. Coastal spots like South Shields and Sunderland get an extra battering from the salt air on top of that. This is why a wall that looked fine a couple of years back can suddenly look tired.
Getting the mortar right matters
This is where a lot of cheap jobs go wrong. If you have an older or period property, the wall almost certainly needs a lime based mortar that lets it breathe. Slapping a hard modern cement mortar onto old brickwork traps moisture and pushes the damage into the bricks themselves, which is far more expensive to put right. Newer builds are usually fine with a cement mortar. Matching the colour and the joint style matters too, otherwise a fresh bit of pointing sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the wall.
Why you should not sit on it
Repointing is one of those jobs that is cheap when you catch it early and dear when you leave it. Once water has been getting into the wall for a few winters it can rot wall ties, blow the face off the bricks and even affect what is going on inside. Sorting the pointing while it is just the joints is a fraction of the cost of rebuilding.
We repoint houses, garden walls, chimneys and period properties right across Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Gateshead and the rest of the North East. If you are not sure whether your wall needs doing, send us a photo or give us a ring and we will give you an honest answer, not a scare story.
Keystone Construction Group. Honest work, clear pricing, no hidden costs. Call 07587885335 or visit keystone.abacusai.app.
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