Mortar joints need repointing when the mortar is crumbling, cracked, or recessed enough that you can scratch it out with a key or screwdriver instead of a tool, or when you can see gaps between the brick and the joint. A simple check is running a key or coin along the joint: if mortar comes out as loose sand or powder instead of holding firm, it has failed and water is getting behind the brick face.
Mortar is built to be the softer, sacrificial part of a brick wall on purpose, so it wears out before the brick does and can be replaced without touching the brick itself. Signs it's reached that point include a faded, chalky color, joints recessed noticeably below the face of the brick, visible gaps or hairline cracks running along the joint line, and mortar that crumbles under light pressure instead of holding its shape. That's by design: a properly matched mortar is meant to be the part that gives, not the brick.
Freeze-thaw winters here speed up joint failure compared to a milder climate, because any water sitting in a crack or gap freezes and expands repeatedly through the season. That means a joint that looks fine going into fall can be hiding real damage by the time spring rolls around, and joints on the shadier or wetter side of a wall often fail faster than joints just a few feet away in more sun.
When we inspect joints, we're checking depth and condition across the whole wall, not just the spots that look obviously bad. We grind out failed mortar to the proper depth and repoint with a mortar type matched to the brick's age and hardness, rather than defaulting to whatever's on hand, since the wrong mortar mix can do more harm than the crumbling joint it replaced. Older, softer brick in particular needs a softer mortar to match it, or the harder mortar ends up cracking the brick instead of the joint over time.
More on this from Chelo's Brick & Stone.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
