Advice
What affects the cost of repointing?
No two repointing jobs price the same, which is why an honest figure only ever comes after somebody has stood in front of the wall. These are the things that genuinely change what the work costs, so you can read a quote and understand what you are looking at.
Access and scaffolding
Access is frequently the largest single line on a repointing quote, and it has nothing to do with the brickwork itself. A ground-floor garden wall needs none. A two-storey terrace front needs a scaffold to the full elevation. A detached house needs one to all four sides, and if the side return is too narrow for a standard scaffold, or a neighbour's land is involved, the design gets more complicated again.
Ask any quote to itemise access separately. If it is buried in a single lump sum you cannot compare one quote against another, and you cannot tell whether you would save by doing the roofline or the chimney at the same time.
Mortar type
Lime mortar costs more to apply than a cement and sand mix. It is slower to work, it goes on in stages, and it has to be protected from sun, rain and frost for weeks while it carbonates. It also needs a bricklayer who has actually done it before.
On a pre-1919 wall this is not an upgrade you are choosing to pay for, it is the correct material. Cement on soft historic brick traps moisture in the brick instead of letting it evaporate through the joint, and the faces blow off in frost. Replacing spalled bricks across a whole elevation costs far more than the difference between the two mortars ever would.
How the old mortar comes out
Joints should be raked out to at least twice their width, by hand, so the new mortar has something to key into. Mortar buttered a few millimetres into a shallow joint looks perfect on handover day and falls out in sheets within a few winters.
An angle grinder strips a joint in seconds, which is usually the explanation for a quote that is dramatically cheaper than everyone else's. Grinding also widens the joint and takes the sharp arris off the brick either side. That damage is permanent, visible from the pavement, and cannot be pointed back in.
Condition of the brickwork
Pointing is only half the job on a tired wall. Spalled and crumbling faces, cracked bricks, previous hard cement patches and old ferrous fixings all need dealing with before new mortar goes near the joint.
Brick replacement is priced separately because it depends entirely on how many are gone and how hard the original stock is to match. On a Victorian London stock we can usually source or reclaim a close match; on an unusual red rubber or a moulded decorative brick it takes longer to find.
Size and layout of the elevation
Square metres matter, but so does what is in them. A flat gable with nothing on it is quick. The same area of bay windows, arches, string courses, corbelled detail, parapets and a chimney stack takes considerably longer, because almost none of it can be worked in long runs.
This is also why a full house is not simply four times a single elevation. Rear elevations are often more sheltered and in better condition, and a chimney stack can be reached from the same scaffold that serves the front.
Listed buildings and conservation areas
Listed property and conservation-area work needs period-correct joint profiles, a sample panel agreed before the elevation is started, and sometimes consent paperwork through the local authority. In Richmond, Barnes and Chelsea that is routine rather than exceptional.
It adds time rather than a dramatic premium, but it does add time, and a quote that ignores it is a quote from somebody who has not done the work before.
FAQ
What affects the cost of repointing - common questions
Because the honest answer depends on what the wall looks like. Access, mortar type and how much brick repair is needed change the job completely. We survey first, then send a free, itemised written quote.
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- What is repointing?
A plain-English explanation of what repointing actually is, why joints fail, and how to tell if your house needs it.
- Lime vs cement mortar
Why cement mortar wrecks period brickwork, when it is fine to use, and how to work out which your house needs.
- Signs your house needs repointing
A seven-point checklist you can run round your own house in ten minutes, and what each sign actually means.
- How long does repointing last?
Realistic lifespans by mortar type and exposure, and the four things that decide whether you get 50 years or five.
- How to remove paint from brickwork
Poultice and superheated steam compared, why blasting ruins brick, and what you will find underneath.
- Signs your roof needs repair
What to look for from the ground and from the loft, and what each sign actually means.
- Signs your fascias and guttering are failing
The roofline keeps water off your walls. Here is how to tell when it has stopped doing that.
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Honest advice from a family-run brickwork specialist serving Richmond and South West London since 1946.