Pointing doesn't fail overnight; it erodes, then it lets water in, then the damage moves to the brick and the inside of the house. Catching it at stage one is a lot cheaper than stage three.
- Crumbling or missing mortar. Run a key along a joint. If it powders or you can push it back more than a few millimetres, it's gone.
- Joints recessed behind the brick face. Weathered-out joints leave a ledge on top of every brick. Water sits there.
- Spalled brick faces. Flakes or whole faces missing from the brick, usually on a north or west elevation. This almost always means hard cement over soft brick — see lime or cement.
- Green staining or moss in the joints. Moss needs water to grow. If the joints are hosting it, they're holding water.
- Damp patches inside on an outside wall or around a chimney breast, with no plumbing nearby. Pointing or flaunching is the usual cause.
- A hollow sound when you tap the mortar. Old repointing that was smeared over rather than raked out has come away from the wall behind it.
What to do
Photograph it and send it to us. Most of these can be priced roughly from a couple of photos, and Scott will tell you if it's a single-wall job or a whole-house job. Don't let anyone talk you into "sealing" the wall — sealants trap moisture in a wall that's already wet.
