During your annual chimney inspection, or when you have someone out to sweep your chimney, the technician may have said something about tuckpointing or repointing your chimney or masonry work. Though these terms are commonly used interchangeably, there are actually some significant differences between them, impacting how the process is handled.
Generally speaking, tuckpointing is a part of your overall chimney maintenance, albeit one that you usually only have done every 10 to 20 years or so. By comparison, repointing is a repair process when tuckpointing hasn’t taken place in a timely fashion, making it a more intensive and expensive process. In this article, we’ll provide a solid understanding of the differences between tuckpointing and repointing for Indianapolis residents, the benefits of each, and what to expect from both of these processes.
What’s the Difference Between Tuckpointing & Repointing?
Okay, now that we know that tuckpointing is a type of maintenance and repointing is a repair, what else sets these tasks apart from each other? Let’s start by looking at why these tasks are needed in the first place.
Though your chimney can seem like one solid structure, it actually has a lot of different parts. For the most part, these parts are secured together using mortar, which keeps your bricks and flue tiles securely together. Made from a cement-based compound, your mortar ages with time, eroding and cracking, which allows moisture to enter and cause more damage in freeze/thaw cycles. This means that your mortar needs to be maintained through regular tuckpointing or replaced in repointing.
If this damage isn’t repaired, your mortar will continue to be damaged, eventually leading to falling bricks and a failing chimney system. This can lead to a range of additional problems, such as toxic or poisonous fumes building up indoors, including deadly poison monoxide. It can also cause parts to fall onto your roof and cause damage. Water leaks can cause damage to your home’s interior finishes and mold, leading to health problems.
As you can see, having these issues addressed protects your investment in your home. Failing to take care of these problems in a timely manner quickly leads to more expensive and more dangerous problems. That’s why it’s so important to have tuckpointing done regularly, and repointing undertaken as soon as possible when it’s mentioned by a chimney technician.
Start with Tuckpointing
As was mentioned above, tuckpointing is a standard part of chimney maintenance, albeit one that doesn’t happen very often. When your annual chimney inspection is performed, your technician may recommend tuckpointing be performed to restore the integrity of the mortar itself before it becomes badly damaged. This is because water and wind can erode your mortar, and freeze/thaw cycles can begin to form cracks. Left alone, these issues will continue to damage your chimney’s mortar, leading to a need for more expensive repointing services.
However, tuckpointing isn’t always undertaken to repair damage. It can also be performed to improve aesthetics, such as a mismatch between the brick or stone colors and the mortar. In these situations, you can really take advantage of a chimney technician’s expertise and artistry, allowing them to create an enhanced visual appearance in your mortar joints. Your technician will often be happy to work with you to create a range of visual effects based on your preferences and style choices.
In tuckpointing, a grinder is used to remove the surface of your mortar, and the joint is then cleaned out. Following this, fresh mortar is placed in the gap that has been created, providing a fresh surface that will eventually need replacement in a future tuckpointing project. In the meantime, it will protect your chimney’s structural integrity.
Repointing to Correct Damage
By comparison, repointing is undertaken when your mortar joints have become damaged or deteriorated to the point that they need to be replaced. It’s considered a repair that is needed if the tuckpointing wasn’t done before the damage sunk too deeply into the mortar. In some cases, this damage can even cause a few bricks to come loose from your chimney, and the mortar may easily crumble away.
For repointing, the damaged mortar must be removed and replaced. This is a much more involved process, as it reaches much deeper into the mortar joint than tuckpointing would. If left unattended, a chimney in need of repointing can begin to collapse and fail. This makes it dangerous to use and can even be a danger for those near the chimney if parts begin to fall.
By having the chimney in your Indianapolis home tuckpointed or repointed when it’s needed, you can ensure that it will perform well for you for many decades to come. Bricks can last for centuries, but only if the mortar between them are maintained properly.
If you’ve been told that the chimney in your Indianapolis home needs tuckpointing or repointing, the experienced, friendly professionals at Clean Sweep 317 are always happy to help. Give us a call or contact us today to get started on restoring your chimney to optimal condition!