Nothing will ever make repointing old masonry a pleasure, but there is a tool that will take some of the drudgery out of it. Clean and prepare your joint lines as you usually do, then go out and buy a grout bag at a masonry supply store. I like the 24-in. model, but the size you’ll wind up using depends on how strong you are — the bag gets heavy fast.
To use the bag, load in a mortar mix with just a touch more liquid than you normally use. Twist the open end of the bag or make a 90° fold in it to keep the mortar from oozing out the wrong way. Now position the nozzle so that the stream of mortar flows into your joint lines, as shown in the drawing. Wear rubber gloves during this operation, or plan on keeping the outside of the bag dry as a bone. If you don’t, you’ll wind up with peeling skin on both hands. Once you’ve got the joint lines loaded with mortar, go back and compact them with your striking tool.
John Dobrin, Washington, DC
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #30
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Great tip. Need to be sure that mortar used to repoint isn’t harder than the mortar you are replacing. Otherwise you will end up with brick spalling problems. Good choice would be Type N for most residential work.
After putting thin bricks on a 200SF wall, I decided to do the tuck pointing myself with a grout bag. I tried using the twisting method like in this tip and most of the how-to videos on YouTube. Lots of problems came up: Awkwardness in loading the bag, grout drying on the inside of the bag and it was very strenuous to keep pressure on the grout in the bag. To beat the drying problem, I tried washing out the bag after each charge, but that was really awkward too.
I tried holding the bag at the open end and rolling the cloth tight against the grout. With one hand fisted to squeeze the roll and the other guiding the nozzle, I loaded the joints. From time to time as the bag emptied, I had to take the roll in two hands and tighten up. That method worked a lot better than twisting.
To make things less awkward when filling and rinsing the bag, I made a stand and used two spring clamps to hold the bag open. To catch the rinse water, I put the stand in a big mixing tub. The stand has a small podest on which to flatten out the bag for rolling.
Obviously, for some people the twisting method works quite well. That it didn’t for me could have something to do with grout characteristics, water content or my own lack of strength and endurance.
To better visualize my method, copy this URL into you browser.
https://www.irista.com/gallery/1llrxafqpnq8