Brick Tuckpointing: Why It Is Needed and What Its Benefits Are – Family Roofing

Posted on by David Reid

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Brick Tuckpointing: Why It Is Needed and What Its Benefits Are

Tuckpointing isn’t the most common term when it comes to home repairs or home renovation, but it is important.  Tuckpointing is the act of maintaining and possibly restoring mortar joints between bricks using a two-toned mortar technique.  It is a project that can lengthen the life of your brick structures and increase the value of your home if kept up with properly.

Here are 5 reasons that you may need to consider having your house tuckpointed.

  1. The Mortar is Failing

    If the mortar on your house is beginning to fail, then you need to have your house tuckpointed, and quickly.  Mortar joints between bricks are legitimately what holds them together, and when the mortar begins to crumble and fall from the joints, the structure begins to weaken. Tuckpointing when this begins to happen is crucial and can save you a lot of time and money down the line if identified early enough!

  2. Your House Hasn’t Been Tuckpointed in a Decade

    Your mortar joints look fine, and your brick is strong, so you know the mortar isn’t failing. Well, even if that’s the case, it’s important that you have your brick walls or structures, like a chimney, checked and tuckpointed.  Preventative maintenance in a home is highly important, and it’s recommended that you have the brick in your home tuckpointed every 10 to 15 years.

  3. Bricks Are Beginning to Crack

    There’s a good chance that if you see bricks in your home beginning to crack, or spall, that you’ll need to look into having your home tuckpointed.  When the mortar joints between your bricks begin to crack or deteriorate, it may not be entirely noticeable.  A dead giveaway is when the bricks begin to crack or flake.  Good mortar joints prevent too much moisture from entering a brick wall, while deteriorating joints don’t protect against this, and the resulting moisture entering the brick causes it to crack.

  4. You’ve Found a Puddle in Your Basement

    Let’s talk a little bit more about moisture.  Sure, noticing signs of wear and tear from moisture is a little bit easier with the brick outside, or any brick that’s exposed inside on the first floor.  That’s not the only sign of moisture damage in your joints or bricks.  Hidden deterioration may be happening, and water may be seeping in from the outside and dribbling into your basement.  If you see this, you may need to get your brick tuckpointed.

  5. Increasing the Value of Your Home

    Last but not least, tuckpointing is a good way to increase the value of your home if you’re looking to sell! It’s regular maintenance that needs to be done, and if done recently, can help increase the appraisal you receive when looking to put your house on the market.

Tuckpointing is an important part of home maintenance and restoration for any property that has brick walls or structure.  Consider giving your home a look through and getting it tuckpointed today!

If you have a chimney or a fireplace, amongst other masonry work such as brick walls, patio and sidewalks to create a beautiful façade for your home, then you must also know they need constant upkeep and that there will come a time this masonry work will be needing repairs in the form of brick tuckpointing.  The mortar joints of your home’s masonry work will at some point become damaged due to extreme weather conditions particularly because of either too much heat exposure or too much moisture or amount of water.  These conditions make the mortar joints deteriorate.

Brick tuckpointing is the process wherein you can prevent further destructive processes from carrying on with your home’s masonry work. It also has several benefits that come with it.

When Brick Tuckpointing Is Already Needed

While bricks may last for over a century, it is the mortar that is more prone to being damaged and therefore it has a much shorter lifespan which is about 25 years if the mortar is of excellent quality.

Damaged and deteriorated mortar joints, because of weakened mortar, makes for a signal when this repair method is already needed on the affected areas.  It is important to note that the process must only be performed on the adversely affected areas so as to avoid damaging the other areas which are still established and are working their functions just perfectly fine.  Otherwise, your other alternative action as a homeowner will be to allow the mortar joints to completely corrode and eventually collapse so that you can have the masonry work, such as a chimney or a fireplace, totally rebuilt by professional tuckpointing contractors.  The latter is much more costly and even dangerous for your household.  This process is definitely the best way to go. preserve your home’s masonry work.

The Benefits of Brick Tuckpointing

One of the benefits of this method is that it stops the mortar joints from completely corroding and from its eventual collapse.  As well, the structural stability and reliability of the masonry work is restored. Delaying brick tuckpointing procedure can result in a much weaker masonry structure which can in turn, make it start to lean or breakdown as in the case of brick walls and chimney.  This method is like a follow up procedure after the deterioration of the brickwork which serves to prevent moisture from keeping on entering the masonry system.  This is one of the benefits of brick tuckpointing.

If the mortar joints are left neglected and unrepaired, the tendency is for excessive amounts of water to seep through the mortar joints and can cause some serious damages that may not be visible on the outside. This may include mold and mildew forming and reproducing in the mortar joints, which will cause the brickwork to expand or crack, which will be more difficult and more costly to repair.

Therefore, immediately getting the repair is the more cost-effective manner of restoration of your home’s masonry work to its near original condition. The value of your house is enhanced with brickwork that is in great shape and condition.

Why Waterproof Bricks?

Stop Moisture Damage

Bricks that are not sealed absorb water, which can cause the porous brick masonry and mortar to deteriorate.

Keep Aesthetic Appeal

Bricks are more valuable if they are properly sealed and waterproofed over the long term.  Extending the life and beauty of masonry work, particularly in a wet region, improves your property’s value by prolonging its aesthetic appeal, not to mention its structural integrity.

Make Bricks Last Longer

The main reason you might want your masonry work or brickwork to be more resistant to water is that it will last longer.  If the building where your brick is used gets wet frequently, then waterproofing its mortar and exterior surfaces can reduce damage from leaking roofs and high humidity levels in a space.

Fewer Repair Costs

Moisture-resistant bricks may also mean fewer repair costs down the line for issues like spalling (breaking off pieces) of the mortar joints between bricks due to freeze/thaw cycles.

Fungal Growth

Fungal growth may complicate matters even further. Mold prefers to grow on hard surfaces like brick when there is an adequate supply of water.  While mold spores are not as dangerous as water damage, they can harm the structure by weakening it over time.  They also pose a health hazard to those who breathe them or come into contact with them both humans and pets.