Staining and repointing brick

[dylanozorus]

Hi,

I'm about to tackle the fun job of repointing the brick facade of my garage. The brick is over 50 years old, weeping style.
Although the mortar is still nice and solid, we decided the weeping mortar "look" had to go, to match the rest of the property.

In addition to repointing the brick, we want to upgrade the color of the brick. Stain is the way to go, so I'll be doing fun job #2 also.

Hence the question: once the excess mortar is removed and the joints ready to repoint, should the stain be applied *before* or *after* I do the mortar joints?

My reasoning is BEFORE, to really cover all the brick and avoid staining the mortar. Am I right?

Thank you all for your input, suggestion and comments of these fun jobs ( I mean it, I like this stuff!)

 

[Shiftless]

So you are planning to chip out almost all of the existing good condition mortar, stain all of the bricks and then reapply and sculpt new mortar into the correct profile into all of the spaces between the bricks?

Have you ever done this kind of work before? What tool do you plan to use to chip out the hard mortar without chipping the corners and edges of the bricks?

This sounds to me to be an incredibly difficult and time consuming job.

 

[dylanozorus]

So you are planning to chip out almost all of the existing good condition mortar, stain all of the bricks and then reapply and sculpt new mortar into the correct profile into all of the spaces between the bricks?

Have you ever done this kind of work before? What tool do you plan to use to chip out the hard mortar without chipping the corners and edges of the bricks?

This sounds to me to be an incredibly difficult and time consuming job.

I have repointed brick many times in the past, this is a familiar job to me. For chipping the excess mortar, an old, used 1" blunted wood chisel works well. This knocks the excess mortar without even touching the brick. In any case, even if there are chips, the brick is multi colored, un-smooth surface brick... they come already pre-chipped lol.

You are right in saying it's time consuming... but not very difficult work. Imho, anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Thanks for your comment.

 

[Rusted Nut]

Not sure new mortar will stick to “stained mortar and stained brick”. I would re-mortar first, then stain; although I’ve never heard of staining masonry.

 

[ybnormal]

Not sure new mortar will stick to “stained mortar and stained brick”. I would re-mortar first, then stain; although I’ve never heard of staining masonry.

don't know about re-staining but the latest trend in my neighborhood of 50-60yr old homes is to paint the brick along with some other exterior remodeling

here's one of the first from 10 yrs ago, done by a house flipper

needless to say, it doesn't match the other houses around it. and the bstards cut down 80-100 yr old oak trees to do it

 

[Death Row Dave]

Trees are beautiful , but do not belong near a house . Believe me I know my 3 acre area near my house that I mow is full of 100 plus year old oak trees . A real pain in the azz, constant maintenance .

 

[dogdog]

I have repointed brick many times in the past, this is a familiar job to me. For chipping the excess mortar, an old, used 1" blunted wood chisel works well. This knocks the excess mortar without even touching the brick. In any case, even if there are chips, the brick is multi colored, un-smooth surface brick... they come already pre-chipped lol.

You are right in saying it's time consuming... but not very difficult work. Imho, anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Thanks for your comment.

I was looking at this sds plus attachment for re-pointing, should work better than a blunted chisel. they have the hand tool version too.

Amazon.com

 

[dylanozorus]

I was looking at this sds plus attachment for re-pointing, should work better than a blunted chisel. they have the hand tool version too.

Amazon.com

Nice! I'll look into that. THanks for the info.

 

[dylanozorus]

Not sure new mortar will stick to “stained mortar and stained brick”. I would re-mortar first, then stain; although I’ve never heard of staining masonry.

That is an interesting point. Needs further investigation. I'm sure about the staining though, if anything, brick should never be painted. There is a large set of stains specifically made for brick. Thanks for your comment.

 

[captaindiode]

Here is a mineral paint (stain) specifically for brick. Their site might help:

Painting Brick with mineral paint - Best Practices — BEECK Mineral Paints

www.beeckmineralpaints.com

 

[captaindiode]

They also make diamond blades for cutting out the mortar, but be aware of the dangers of breathing silica dust and protect your lungs.

Tuckpoint Blades Mortar Grout Removal | Diamondblades4us

Pro Grade Tuck Pointing Blade .250" Thick 10mm Segment Height 7/8"-5/8" Arbor Long Life and Fast Mortar Extraction Use Wet or Dry

www.diamondblades4us.com

 

[dylanozorus]

Here is a mineral paint (stain) specifically for brick. Their site might help:

Painting Brick with mineral paint - Best Practices — BEECK Mineral Paints

www.beeckmineralpaints.com

Thanks for the link, I was not aware of this product.

 

[dylanozorus]

They also make diamond blades for cutting out the mortar, but be aware of the dangers of breathing silica dust and protect your lungs.

Tuckpoint Blades Mortar Grout Removal | Diamondblades4us

Pro Grade Tuck Pointing Blade .250" Thick 10mm Segment Height 7/8"-5/8" Arbor Long Life and Fast Mortar Extraction Use Wet or Dry

www.diamondblades4us.com

I use one of these, they work wonders. Combined with oscillating tool to clean vertical joints, they make for a perfect job.

 

[gregs]

don't know about re-staining but the latest trend in my neighborhood of 50-60yr old homes is to paint the brick along with some other exterior remodeling

here's one of the first from 10 yrs ago, done by a house flipper

needless to say, it doesn't match the other houses around it. and the bstards cut down 80-100 yr old oak trees to do it

That was a little more than a flip. It looks like they removed an upper portion of brick to add siding to change it up. Along with a complete redo of windows and design style. Guessing older ranch style houses are not that popular to sell. Overall I think it looks ok, dont care for the V corner support. I also dont like when every house in a neighborhood looks like each other. Some of the older neighborhoods that got built over a long time with different styles is nice to me. And this is coming from someone who owns a red brick house built in the 80's.

 

[ybnormal]

That was a little more than a flip. It looks like they removed an upper portion of brick to add siding to change it up. Along with a complete redo of windows and design style. Guessing older ranch style houses are not that popular to sell. Overall I think it looks ok, dont care for the V corner support. I also dont like when every house in a neighborhood looks like each other. Some of the older neighborhoods that got built over a long time with different styles is nice to me. And this is coming from someone who owns a red brick house built in the 80's.

true, but this was the first of that trend I spotted about 10 yrs ago. I don't know if they removed it or, more likely, just stucco/siding over it. I've watched other "flips" over the last 10 yrs that have done similar. as for the "popularity" of ranch style, these homes were built in the county at the time, 1970-80s, with a mix of 1- and 2-story plans and a multitude of floor plans, and all different kinds of outside coverings (brick, river rock, stacked stone, etc) as long as it had a stone-type covering (deed restriction, no HOA neighborhood). Side entry or back entry garages only, lot sizes typically between .20-.35 acres.
We got lucky buying in this neighborhood 29 yrs ago. Desirability has never gone down since we have one of the best academic high schools in Texas. Another nice benefit is they can't build out anymore in our area since it backs up to huge greenbelt

but we digress. the OPs original post about re-pointing is something I'll need to do myself (hire out for) for our property when we sell in the next couple of years. I have a 27yr-old 60ft long retaining wall of stacked stone on the street varying between 8ft to 3ft high. mortar has worn out over the years and come out. need to see about having it fixed (at least cosmetically) before putting on the market. needs a pressure wash and fresh mortar. will need to start seeing what labor prices are for that kind of work

 

[dylanozorus]

needs a pressure wash and fresh mortar. will need to start seeing what labor prices are for that kind of work

Better start saving right now, masonary contractors are high up on the cost scale (here in Montreal anyways), the cost was prohibitive for us to hire this job out. The lowest bid was even a sting. I only had bids done to value the size of the job and the savings, because I am happy doing the work myself, it's not a chore.

 

[gregs]

What are you planning on using to stain the brick with?

 

[dylanozorus]

What are you planning on using to stain the brick with?

Looking at these products right now:

Products | PermaTint Ltd.

PermaTint's Brick Staining products and services are recognized industry wide as the best there is. Let our experts transform your home or business.

www.permatint.com

 

[gregs]

Thanks, I am going to look at that product. Been wanting to do something with our brick but not wanting to paint it. The last product I looked at was a type of lime wash that would be a light white / cream color. It still as variations and doesnt change the texture of the break.

 

[ybnormal]

Better start saving right now, masonary contractors are high up on the cost scale (here in Montreal anyways), the cost was prohibitive for us to hire this job out. The lowest bid was even a sting. I only had bids done to value the size of the job and the savings, because I am happy doing the work myself, it's not a chore.

I find out I'll let you know but I suspect it won't be that expensive here due to labor source. even so, the quality of work and the extent of it would probably differ from your situation.