Raised pointing, Help...

[Nikonan]

My house has been pointed previously(15+), I’m very near to the coast so it gets weathered badly, anyhow its now falling out/decaying in places. The trouble is it’s been raised pointed.
I’ve done quite a lot of pointing with my line of work but never “Raised” pointing, can anyone give me some tips?
I’ve been told to use a small piece of wood and a finger trowel but not having three hands it’s almost impossible up a ladder, also the uprights are proving very difficult.

 

[jeds]

Best tip is don't use it. Raised pointing is not an authentic technique (tis a modern invention) and the proportion of cement needed to hold the mix hold together is far too much and will produce a dense hard mix - which can cause irepairable damage to stonework over the long term.

A mix of lime and coarse sand rubbed to a slightly rough surface is a far better. In the old days the masons would have rubbed the joint with a sugar bag made of jute - which is where 'bagged' joint comes from.

 

[^woody^]

I've always known this as a varaition of tuck pointing (without the putty or contrasting mortar), and as such it was a traditional joint finish to stonework, as opposed to brickwork

To do this you need staight edges, and tool called a "frenchman" to cut and strike the joint.

Rake the joint out to 20-25mm and use unibond (PVA) to get a good grip. Also make sure you compact the new joint well and give it a good trowel finish to provide weather resistance to the mortar.

Try google for details of tuck pointing and the tools used

 

[The-brickie]

Arrrrrh! Dont do it, dont put great big ledges of cement mortar for rain to sit on and not run off your stone work properly, in time it will only de-laminate from the lime mortar and take bits of stone work with it!

Have to agree with Jeds, avoid this modern idea of portland cement pointing, raised to catch all the weather (it looks sh!te too) have a google for lime mortar, theres plenty of info out there.

Be brave, we (builders) only used lime for thousands of years before portland cement came alone, even the Romans built with it, making concrete with it!