Q–We have a brick house that is over 50 years old and some of the mortar joints have started to crumble with sections even falling out. I’ve been told by a bricklayer that the joints need to be repaired by tuckpointing.
The price he quoted was way too high for us to afford. But since most of the cost would be for time-consuming labor, I thought I would like to try doing the job myself.
Are there any special tools or techniques I need to know about that will make the job easier or more effective?
A–If there is a great deal of tuckpointing to do then it would be advisable to buy several specialized tools: a tuckpointing trowel, a tuckpointing chisel and a hawk (a square piece of metal or wood with a handle underneath, which is used for carrying mortar or plaster).
You will also need a small hand-held sledge hammer or other hammer suitable for striking metal. Use the hammer and chisel to remove all of the old mortar that is cracking or crumbling down to a depth of at least one-half inch.
Brush out debris and dust, then clean with a light spray from a hose. Mix up some tuckpointing mortar and put a large glob onto the surface of the hawk.
Then while holding the hawk against the surface of the brick, use the tuckpointing trowel to pack the mortar tightly into the recessed joint between the bricks.
Before the mortar sets up completely, smooth off and tool the surface of the new mortar joint to match the existing mortar joints by using either a special brick-jointing tool, or the point of a small triangular trowel.
Q–When it rains heavily, water trickles in through cracks in one of my basement walls directly under one of the windows.
There is a hill behind this wall and the window is below ground level with a recessed well around it.
Should I patch the cracks in the concrete wall under the window, or should I put down drain tile to carry the ground water away?
A–I don’t think patching the cracks will solve your problem. Waterproofing the outside of this wall and installing drain tile along the footing would be the most effective, but this is expensive.
You might try diverting the ground water that runs off the hill by digging a trench uphill of the house and parallel to it. This should be at least 10 feet away from the foundation and about 12 inches deep and 12 to 18 inches wide.
Fill this trench with gravel and make sure the trench extends past the house on each side. It should also slope downward at each end so that water can easily flow out of the ends.
Water coming down off the hill will be caught in the trench and diverted around each side of the house instead of running against the basement wall.
