Jointing, Pointing, Tuck-Pointing

Joint Shape

The best joint is one with a concave shape, some call it a bucket shape - a slight, indented, rounded surface starting at the edge of the bordering brick and meeting the next. This joint allows water to run over it easily, with no place for water to stop.

Flush and raked joints are common in Ottawa, and in Montreal where I learned masonry.

Tuck-Pointing
Tuck-pointing is a type of joint finishing where the entire joint is pointing flush with the wall in a colour matching the brick. A thin V-shaped incision is cut into the joints, and filled with a white cement. This makes the bricks look thicker, perfectly square, and as if they are set on cement 1/16th of an inch thick. In most cases tuck pointing was used to disguise poor quality, chipped and irregular bricks. This is why the line is on the surface - to suggest regular-sized bricks.

Diagnosis & Preparation

Hairline cracks in the cement between bricks let water in. The joint's cement should be dug out and re-pointed.

Holes should be filled. Except those at the bottom of the brick wall which are there intentionally to let moisture leave the cavity behind the bricks. Note that cultured stone walls have no cavity behind them and don't have weeping holes in the wall. If your brick wall does not have weeping holes, then you should create them. The holes can be filled with steel wool, or other metal meshes to prevent bugs from entering.

Cleaning the joint out first is key. If this is not done, the joint will usually not last as long.

Here you see our chisel can go in about halfway, demonstrating a well-prepared joint ready for cement.

This photo shows a very close match of the red cement, on the lower left side, with two bricks replaced..

Stone foundations require maintenance, inside and out. Here we have cleaned out all the old pointing to refresh it.