Can I Repoint Brickwork Myself?

I get asked this fairly regularly, and I always try to give an honest answer rather than just telling people to hire me. The truth is: yes, you can repoint brickwork yourself — but whether you *should* depends on the job, the property, and how confident you are with the work involved. Here's my genuine take on it. ## When DIY Repointing Is Reasonable There are situations where having a go yourself makes sense: - **A small, isolated area** — a single section of a garden wall, a few joints around a window reveal, or a patch of pointing that's come loose on a low boundary wall - **A modern property** with hard engineering bricks and standard cement mortar, where matching the existing mix is straightforward - **Ground-level work** where access is easy and there's no risk from working at height - **You're comfortable with the tools** and prepared to take your time If the job is small, accessible, and on a modern property, a competent DIYer can get a decent result with the right materials and a bit of patience. ## What You'll Need For a basic cement repointing job on a modern property: - **Cold chisel and club hammer** (or an angle grinder with a mortar raking disc for larger areas) - **Pointing trowel** and a **hawk** - **Stiff brush** for cleaning out the joints - **Pre-mixed pointing mortar** or bagged sand and cement (typically a 4:1 or 5:1 sand-to-cement ratio) - **Safety glasses and dust mask** — non-negotiable when raking out joints The key steps are: rake out the old mortar to a minimum depth of around 20mm, brush out the dust and debris, dampen the joints slightly, and apply the new mortar in layers, finishing flush with the brick face. ## Where It Gets Complicated Here's where I'd urge caution. ### Older Properties and Lime Mortar If your property was built before around 1920 — Victorian, Edwardian, Georgian — the original mortar is almost certainly lime-based. Repointing with standard cement mortar on these properties causes real damage over time: trapped moisture, spalling bricks, and cracking as the wall moves. Getting lime mortar right takes practice. The mix ratios, the type of lime, the curing process — it's not difficult once you know what you're doing, but it's easy to get wrong if you haven't done it before. A poorly mixed or poorly applied lime mortar can fail within a few years, and you'll be back to square one. If your property is listed or in a conservation area, lime mortar isn't just recommended — it's typically required. Using the wrong material could create problems if you ever come to sell or if the work is inspected. ### Matching the Existing Mortar One of the trickier parts of any repointing job is getting the new mortar to match the existing in colour and texture. On a small patch, a mismatch is obvious and can look worse than the original problem. I mix mortar on site and test samples before committing to the full area. Getting that right takes experience and a good eye — it's harder than it looks. ### Working at Height Any repointing above ground level introduces risk. Working from a ladder for extended periods with tools in your hands is tiring and potentially dangerous. If the job requires scaffolding, the cost of hiring it often makes professional labour look more competitive than it first appeared. ### Large Areas Raking out and repointing a full elevation is physically demanding work. It's also slow — a professional with the right tools and technique will cover significantly more area in a day than most DIYers. For a large job, the time investment can be substantial. ## The Risks of Getting It Wrong I want to be straight with you here: bad repointing can be worse than no repointing. - **Joints raked out too shallow** — the new mortar won't bond properly and will fail quickly - **Wrong mortar on older brickwork** — causes spalling and moisture damage that's expensive to fix - **Overfilling joints** — mortar smeared across the brick face is difficult to remove cleanly once it's set - **Pointing over failed mortar** — if the old mortar isn't properly removed, the new layer will just come away with it None of these are catastrophic on a small garden wall. On the front elevation of a period property, they can be costly mistakes. ## My Honest Recommendation If it's a small job on a modern property at ground level — have a go. Take your time, prepare the joints properly, and use the right materials. There are good tutorials available and it's a skill worth having. If it's an older property, a large area, work at height, or you're at all unsure about the mortar specification — get a professional in. The cost of doing it properly is almost always less than the cost of fixing it if it goes wrong. I offer free, no-obligation assessments across Essex and London. If you're not sure whether a job is within your capabilities or what mortar you should be using, [get in touch](/contact-us) and I'll give you a straight answer — no pressure to hire me if it's something you can reasonably tackle yourself.