Brick houses
Full elevations or the worst sections, on solid brick walls and brick veneer alike.
Mortar and brick repair
Tuckpointing
Tuckpointing replaces tired, cracked and missing mortar with a new mix matched for colour, texture and hardness, so the repair reads as part of the original wall. We repoint brick houses, chimneys, porches and garden walls across Southern Ontario, and we take care with old brick.
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The difference
Tuckpointing and repointing, explained.
Strictly speaking, repointing is raking out failed mortar and packing new mortar into the joint, while tuckpointing is a finishing technique that lays a thin line of contrasting mortar over a coloured joint to make brickwork look crisp. In Ontario both words are used for the same job, whether written tuckpointing or tuck pointing: the old mortar comes out and new mortar goes in. That is what this page covers.
Mortar is meant to be the sacrificial part of a brick wall. It is softer than the brick, so movement and moisture work on the joint instead of the brick face. After enough winters the joints wear back, crack and let water in, and repointing puts that protection back before the brick itself starts to fail.
Warning signs
How to tell your brick needs repointing.
- Recessed joints. Mortar worn back from the brick face, or sand running out when you scratch it.
- Cracked mortar. Cracks through the joints, especially stepped cracks that follow the courses.
- Gaps. Missing mortar you can see into.
- Spalling brick. Brick faces flaking or popping off, often a sign an earlier repair used mortar harder than the brick.
- Damp and efflorescence. Wet patches or white salt deposits on the inside or outside of the wall.
- Loose brick. Movement in caps, parapets, chimney tops and porch walls.
Chimneys, porch walls, parapets and wall caps usually need it first, because they are exposed on more than one side.
Matched mortar
Why the mortar has to match.
The most damaging repointing mistake is not the colour, it is the hardness. Modern Portland cement mortar is far harder than the lime based mortar in older Ontario brick houses. Pack it into a century old wall and the joint no longer gives, so the stress goes into the brick instead and the faces start popping off.
So we match three things. Colour, so the repair blends in once it has cured. Texture, so the sand in the new joint looks like the sand in the old one. And hardness, using a softer lime mortar on older, softer brick and a mix suited to the wall on newer work. The joint profile is matched too, whether the original is concave, flush, raked or struck.
That matters most on the older brick in the historic parts of Barrie, Newmarket, Aurora and Collingwood, where a hard repair can do more harm than the worn mortar it replaced.
How it runs
Our tuckpointing process.
01
Assess and match
We check the brick, the depth of the failure and the existing mortar, then mix and compare samples.
02
Rake out
Old mortar removed to a sound, even depth without chipping the brick edges or widening the joints.
03
Repoint
Joints dampened and packed in layers, then tooled to the original profile once the mortar has firmed up.
04
Clean and cure
Smears brushed off, the wall cleaned, and the fresh joints protected from sun, rain and frost while they cure.
What we repoint
Brick repointing on houses, chimneys and walls.
Chimneys
Stacks repointed before the joints let water in, often alongside a new crown. See chimney repairs and rebuilds.
Porches and steps
Porch walls, piers and caps, which wear fastest of anything on the house. See front porches.
Heritage brick
Soft historic brick repointed with lime mortar and joints raked out carefully by hand.
Garden and retaining walls
Brick and stone walls that take water from both sides and from the ground below.
Stone walls and foundations
Rubble and cut stone foundations and walls, pointed with a mortar that suits the stone.
Cost
What tuckpointing costs.
Tuckpointing is priced by the area of wall and its condition. The main things that move the number:
- How much of the wall. Spot repointing a porch or a chimney is a small job. A full two storey elevation is a large one.
- How deep the failure goes. Deeply eroded joints take longer to rake out and fill.
- Height and access. Ladders, roof brackets or scaffold.
- Mortar matching. A close heritage match takes more sampling than a standard mix.
- Brick replacement. Any spalled brick that has to be cut out and replaced at the same time.
We quote it as a fixed written price after looking at the wall, and we will tell you plainly if only part of the wall needs doing.
From our Google reviews
A repointed porch, in the client's words.
My front porch was sank by 3 inches in one corner. And the the sills were all cracked and falling apart. They came in and fixed the sinking rebuilt all the brick and repointed the whole porch. Doing an amazing job we are beyond happy with the work. We would recommend to anyone looking for masonry work.
Masonry work well done with quality, reasonable price and completed in a timely manner.
Where we work
Tuckpointing across Southern Ontario.
We repoint brick right across Southern Ontario. Most of it is in three areas with a lot of old brick.
Barrie
Barrie's older neighbourhoods, including Allandale, The Grove and the streets around the downtown, are full of soft older brick laid in lime mortar, exactly the brick a hard modern repointing mix damages. The city keeps a heritage register, so repointing a listed house is worth a call to the city first.
Masonry in BarrieNewmarket and Aurora
Much of Newmarket's historic Main Street was built in brick from the town's own Stickwood brickyard, and Aurora's Northeast Old Aurora district has homes from the 1860s to the 1930s. Both towns have heritage districts with permit rules, so we check with the town's heritage staff before we rake out a joint.
Masonry in Newmarket and AuroraCollingwood
Collingwood's Downtown Heritage Conservation District is built largely of brick from 1880 to 1910, and designated properties need a heritage permit for exterior alterations. The town also runs a heritage grant program for eligible work, so it is worth asking before you book.
Masonry in CollingwoodWe also repoint brick in
- Angus
- Bolton
- Bradford
- Coldwater
- Innisfil
- King
- Midhurst
- Midland
- New Tecumseth
- Orillia
- Schomberg
- Stayner
- Vaughan
- Wasaga Beach
Questions
Tuckpointing questions.
Repointing is removing failed mortar and replacing it. Tuckpointing is, strictly, a decorative finish that lays a fine line of contrasting mortar over the joint. In Ontario both words are used for replacing worn mortar, and that is the work we do.
There is no fixed schedule. Good mortar on a sheltered wall can last for decades, while chimneys, caps and porch walls wear far faster. Look at the joints every few years and repoint when they have worn back or cracked, before water gets behind the brick.
We match colour, sand texture, hardness and the joint profile, and compare samples against the wall before we start. Fresh mortar always looks a little different while it cures, then settles toward the original over the following months.
Often it helps, because open joints are a common way for water to get in. They are not the only one, though. Failed flashing, cracked sills, a missing drip edge or blocked weep holes can all let water into a wall, so we look for those as well before promising repointing will cure a leak.
Mortar has to cure above freezing, so most repointing is done from spring through fall. Small areas can be done in cold weather with heated enclosures and cold weather mortar.
Yes, when the mortar is softer than the brick and the joints are raked out with care rather than widened with a grinder. On a designated property, check with your town's heritage staff first. We are glad to give them the details of the mortar we plan to use.
More services
Other masonry we build.
Free on-site estimates
Tell us what you are building.
Call or send a few details. We come out, measure, and put a fixed price and a start window in writing. Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.