Repointing of Victorian Terrace

[manc1982]

Hi all,

Hoping you can help me out with a couple of repointing questions that have been bugging me! I've recently had my house done, its an old victorian terrace built with engineering bricks with a narrow gap between the bricks. The bloke whos done the repointing has grinded out but has expanded the gap taking some of the brick with it i'd imagine. Is that a big no when it comes to the old engineering bricks? I've noticed a lot of the houses in my area that have repointed have not done that.

And also i'm a bit concerned that the temperature dropped low overnight while it was drying as well. How long should i leave it before determining if it's hardened correctly? It's been 6 days now, it's dried and has hardened but i tested a small patch and i could brush some of the surface mortar away with my finger so but worried there as well!

Thanks all

 

[stuart45]

Was it lime or cement mortar used. Were they Accrington bricks?

 

[manc1982]

I think Accrington bricks yeah and it was a cement mortar. I had no idea about the lime mortar thing until after the fact, kicking myself about it now

 

[stuart45]

Shame he used the grinder. You have to be really careful with small joint. Some people use trowel mastic on Accringtons, but lime mortar is best.

 

[manc1982]

Yeah i'm pretty disapointed tbh. The guy was a specific repointing company with good reviews but i guess i put too much trust in that and should've done some more research myself really. It's done now though, i'm just wary that i might've created myself an issue down the line when i come to sell with surveys etc. I've attached a before and after just to give you an idea, colour is so different due to sun shining on one and dust etc. Ignore the fact there seems to be no pointing at all on the first one, i had the bricks cleaned beforehand and it was in a pretty bad way anyway!

 

[stuart45]

It's not as bad as I thought it could have been. I don't think that you will have a problem when you come to sell.

 

[manc1982]

Thanks for taking a look, it's much appreciated. I obviously know bugger all about this stuff lol. In terms of the pointing itself, i read it should be up to 30 days to reach it's full strength, i'm guessing the fact i can brush some the surface away after 6 days is probably not much to be concerned about at this point as well?

 

[stuart45]

It looks.like it was finished with a wooden tool rather than a metal one. With metal you get a skin of cement come to the surface, whereas with wood you get a more grainy finish.
It should harden up in time. With lime it's often finished with the churn brush.