Took me 15 years to switch from a trowel to a jointer for pointing

I used to do all my pointing work with just my trowel, pushing mortar into joints and cutting it flush. About 3 years ago I was on a job in Spokane where the old brick was real soft and the trowel kept chipping the edges. A guy on the crew handed me a proper pointing jointer and showed me how to pack the joint firm without damaging the brick. Has anyone else had a simple tool swap like that fix a problem they'd been fighting for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

bettyfox2d ago

Did you ever try using a slicker or a tuck pointer instead? I had a similar issue on some old brickwork where my regular trowel was gouging the faces, and switching to a small margin trowel for packing made a huge difference for me. Sometimes it's just about finding the right tool that protects the brick while still getting the mortar in tight.

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robin_henderson811d ago

Huh, I mean it's just brickwork, not brain surgery. A bit of gouging here and there won't bring the house down, right?