I'm faced with a mjor brick re-pointing project: front and back of a three-story row-house, with several sections where the bricks have fallen out and need to be replaced.
On the front of the house, I'd prefer to keep the original narrow, even edges of the bricks. Most of the re-pointing I've seen looks like it was smeared on with a thumb. Are there different types of re-pointing techniques? What sort of cost difference should I expect for different techniques?
Can anyone recommend a contractor?
I would appreciate any advice that you can offer.
The "thumb" effect is typically the result of people who are in too much of a hurry to do the job correctly, and who have no idea what they are doing.
The brick work on the front of your house has what are called "butterfly joints."
95% of today's masonry contractors have no clue how to deal with them... they are much too small for a hammer drill to clean out.
The second problem is that the front of your house not only has butterfly joints, but also has "tinted" mortar. It IS black. That is not dirt. 95% of today's masonry contractors have no idea how to use lamp-black to tint their mortar.
The back of the house may have "normal" joints of 1870. Those normal joints are probably much narrower than those of today. However, any competent contractor should be able to clean and re-point those without problem because they are not that narrow. (Dave just had work done on the rear of his house with no problem.)
T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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