Masonry Magazine July 2003 Page. 29
Tuckpointing is not always limited to older structures.
Not repaired. This means that, as a rule of thumb, tuckpointing is performed roughly every 20 years to make sure mortar deterioration does not undermine the structure. However, tuckpointing is not always limited to older structures. It can also be used for newer jobs where mortar may have been damaged or needs to be replaced because of problems with finish or color. With the trend today toward colored mortar mixes, this is even more relevant.
Tools of the Trade
It's been said that technology has a funny way of solving a big problem by leaving you with a bunch of smaller ones. Tuckpointing is no exception. Historically, tuckpointing was performed with manual tools: chisels, wire brushes and pointing trowels. Then contractors used pneumatic saws or electric, right-angle grinders and abrasive disks to grind out worn and damaged mortar. The biggest problem with these methods was the limitation of masonry blade technology. It was not uncommon for grinding disks to wear out very quickly (sometimes in minutes) or even fail while in use. This caused huge amounts of down-time, as well as worker safety concerns.
The development of tools that used a wet cutting diamond blade brought temporary relief. These tools, largely due to the use of diamond blades instead of abrasive disks, allowed for higher productivity and a more efficient means of cutting mortar. The problem with early diamond tools is that they required water as a coolant during use. This created a new set of difficulties: getting water to the site and all along the building, dealing with the wet slurry during and after the cutting process, and additional safety concerns associated with water and electricity on the same job site.
Luckily, diamond blade technology continued to evolve and new cutting devices were developed. Laser welding and better methods for manufacturing man-made diamonds produced a long-life diamond blade that could be run without a coolant: the dry diamond blade. This blade type has evolved to become the primary cutting tool for masonry and concrete cutting and is used in most tuckpointing applications today. This development allowed contractors to return to a dry cutting method using electric tools, the preferred solution for tuckpointing. However, as with other developments, this one also created its own set of problems.
The process of cutting out mortar can be very dusty and messy. Thousands of pounds of material, ranging from fine dust and sand to chips and chunks of mortar or block can be removed from a large project. At one time, the contractor was only responsible for the material that fell to the ground. The light debris and dust?... Well, that was someone else's problem. It was not uncommon for large projects to have clouds of light dust billowing from the external walls. Winds carried the dust for blocks, coating cars, pedestrians, plants and everything else in its path.
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July 2003
Masonry 27