Tuckpointing and Repointing in Scranton, PA
Tuckpointing renews the mortar in a brick wall. Mortar is the part built to give way first, softer than the brick so it takes the weather and wears back over the years while the brick holds. Once a joint opens, the wall loses its seal, and water starts using that gap as a way in. Repointing grinds the spent mortar out and packs fresh mortar in, tight and tooled to shed water.
Repoint Versus Tuckpoint
The two words cover the same call for most people, but they name different work. Repointing is the repair: out with the failed mortar, in with the new. True tuckpointing is a finish, a thin line of contrasting mortar worked into the joint to make a rough wall look like it was laid with fine, precise seams. Around Scranton, nearly everyone who asks for tuckpointing is describing repointing. Tell us about the wall on the phone and we will sort out which one it needs.
Grinding the Joints Out
We rake the failed joints out with an angle grinder to about twice the joint width in depth, back to sound mortar. Cut too shallow and the new mortar has nothing to hold onto. Then the joints get brushed and blown clean, because fresh mortar will not bond to dust. Corners and the tight detail around windows and sills are cut by hand so the brick beside them stays whole.
Matching the Mortar
Mortar is graded under ASTM C270. Type N is the general above-grade mix for most house walls. Type S is stronger, for walls that carry more load or sit near grade. Brick laid through Scranton's coal years was set in soft lime mortar, and it wants a lime mix, not portland. A hard joint in a soft wall drives every freeze into the brick face instead of the mortar. We match the type, then match the sand and pigment to the color already on the wall.
Packing and Tooling
New mortar goes in from the back of the joint forward, in lifts, so it packs solid with no hollows. A hollow is just a spot for water to sit. Once the joint is full and thumbprint firm, we tool it to the profile carried by the rest of the wall, concave, weathered, or flush. Tooling presses the mortar tight to the brick and shapes the joint to run water off rather than hold it.
What It Costs
Repointing in Scranton runs about $8 to $25 per square foot of wall. Ground level with a stock modern mortar sits at the low end. Historic brick needing a color-matched lime mortar, or a second-story wall needing scaffold, sits higher, because the access and the matching both eat time. Every wall gets a free look and a written estimate first.
Have a wall with open or crumbling joints? (570) 555-0148 gets you a real person and a free estimate. If the brick is spalling too, we take care of the brick repair in the same visit.
How long does tuckpointing last?
A wall repointed in matched mortar holds for decades, often longer than the person who paid for it will own the house. What cuts it short is the wrong mortar. A hard portland joint in a soft old wall can start cracking brick within a handful of winters, which is why we key the mortar to the age of the brick.
Can you tuckpoint in winter?
Fresh mortar has to cure above freezing, so full walls wait for workable weather. We quote through the winter and book the repair for the first warm stretch. An urgent spot, like a loose brick over a door, can be handled with cold-weather methods when it will not keep until spring.
Do you have to redo the whole wall?
No. We repoint the joints that have failed and blend the new mortar into the sound ones. On a wall where most of the joints are open, doing it all at once is cleaner and often cheaper per foot, but partial repointing is common and we quote only what has actually failed.
Will the new mortar match the old?
That is the whole point of the job. We test sand and pigment against your wall until the color and texture line up, and we tool the joint to the profile already there. On historic brick the match is most of the work, because a repair that stands out reads as badly as the damage did.