Tuckpointing

Anyone with a fireplace and chimney may know that it takes some work to keep up its appearance. After a while repairs may be needed to help maintain the appearance of your chimney. When the time comes for you to have some repairs to your chimney, you can always rely on MKE Chimney Repair. In time, the mortar joints might become damaged over time because of water damages. Moisture can destroy rock masonry when water seeps in because of weak mortar joints. One process that we use to repair this problem is tuckpointing, which will stop the deterioration of your chimney.

 

Does Your Chimney Require Tuckpointing

Brick is very durable but the mortar that is used along with the brick in your chimney is not as durable and has a shorter lifespan. Mortar will typically last for up to 25 years but this depends on how much exposure it has to water and extreme weather conditions. Various things can affect how much water will start to cause the mortar joints of the chimney to deteriorate. When this starts to occur, a cost-effective and practical thing for you to have done is tuckpointing.

 

Tuckpointing Process

Rather than have an entirely new chimney built, we can simply repair the part of the chimney that requires repairs. We simply remove the mortar that has been damaged and replace it with new mortar. If we are tuckpointing a chimney, these are the basic steps taken:

 

1. Grounding out the old mortar to create a cohesive depth
2. Forming grooves by cutting a thin strip down the middle
3. Filling in mortar in the new grooves with a color that matches the existing mortar outside the chimney.

 

As qualified professionals, we typically follow the same procedure when performing tuckpointing.

 

Advantages of Tuckpointing

To prolong the life of your chimney, tuckpointing is extremely important and beneficial. Below are some of the advantages of having tuckpointing work performed by our experts:

 

• It helps to prevent water from getting into the chimney. When the mortar joints aren’t repaired then the water will not get down into the chimney and the flue line. Moisture does serious harm to your chimney and can create mildew, mold, and rotting. The moisture created can also cause your ceiling to become stained.
• Chimney masonry is restored to its original condition.
• You can avoid a total tear-down of your chimney if you have tuckpointing done instead. Replacing a chimney can be a very expensive process.
• Stops mortar joint corrosion.
• The stability of the chimney’s structure is restored.

 

Protect Your Chimney

You may not think about it until you are forced to think about it due to a problem that has caught your eye. When you notice that you have a problem with water coming into your home through your fireplace this should be an immediate cause for concern. This is when it is necessary to contact us at MKE Chimney Repair. We’ll help you protect your chimney through effective tuckpointing.