How much does it cost to repoint or tuckpoint brickwork?

Old mortar does not last forever. On Melbourne's period homes, the joints often wear out long before the bricks do, and that is where repointing and tuckpointing come in. The two are not the same, and the cost reflects the work involved.

Repointing versus tuckpointing

People use the words interchangeably, but they are different jobs.

• Repointing. Raking out the old, failed mortar and filling the joints with fresh mortar. A practical repair that keeps water out and the wall sound.
• Tuckpointing. A traditional decorative finish where a fine line of contrasting putty is set into the mortar to give crisp, neat joints. It is skilled, slow handwork and costs more.

Many of Melbourne's Victorian and Edwardian homes were originally tuckpointed, so matching the original finish matters on a heritage facade.

What drives the cost

The price is mostly about how much joint there is and how hard it is to reach.

• Area. Pricing usually runs per square metre, so a full facade costs more than a patch.
• Access. Upper storeys and chimneys need scaffold, which adds to the job.
• Condition. Joints that have weathered deep, or earlier bad repairs in the wrong mortar, take longer to put right.
• Matching. Getting the mortar colour and the tuckpointing line to match the original is fiddly, skilled work.

Why the old mortar matters

The mortar on a period home is often soft lime mortar, not modern cement. Repointing in a hard cement mortar can trap moisture and damage the old, softer bricks over time.

Using the right mortar for the age of the home is the difference between a repair that protects the wall and one that quietly wrecks it. On heritage brickwork this is not a corner to cut.

Good pointing is what keeps water out of an old wall, so it is worth doing properly rather than smearing over the problem.

Send us a photo of the brickwork and your suburb, and we will tell you whether it needs repointing or tuckpointing and what the job will cost.