At Brick Specialists brick repair is our business. Of the many services we regularly offer, one of the most common, and effective, is tuck pointing. Through this process we are able to restore brick walls to their original strength and construction at a fraction of a cost of a rebuild.
Eventually, every brick home needs tuck pointing. But why?
Bricks are made mostly of clay, mixed with a bit of sand and water, pressed into shape and dried (at about 1000 degrees centigrade!). The process and the materials make for a very durable and resistant building material that has - literally - served as the cornerstone of a majority of construction projects.
The mortar that holds bricks together, however, is not nearly as strong. Frequently made from clay mixed with powdered limestone, mortar is more susceptible to the elements than brick.
Where a brick may withstand 100 or more years of abuse, the mortar between the bricks usually needs to be tended to every 25 years or so. A qualified brick repair specialist - such as ourselves - isn’t usually repairing the actual brick so much as they are repairing the mortar around the brick.
When should your mortar be maintained?
A visual inspection will tell you most of what you need to know. If you see that the mortar has eroded five millimeters, or if you see any visible cracks or separations between the mortar and the brick, then it is time for a tuck point.
Tuck pointing isn’t as invasive as other restoration methods, but it does require a skilled and experienced person to ensure an excellent job is done. We carefully remove the existing mortar from the area in need of a repair. Then, through either a chemical test or by judging the age of the house, we match the repair mortar with the mortar that was used in the original construction. When the job is complete you won’t even notice where the repairs happened.
We have been repairing brick homes in the Denver metro area for over 40 years. Tuck pointing is the easiest way to restore the original beauty and the structural integrity of your investment long before it becomes a costly or dangerous problem.