Repointing my basement

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Hello all!

I purchased a brick home 2 years ago in the historic district of the city. The house was built in 1900, and the joints don't appear to have had much work on them since then :)

My wife and I would like to redo the entire basement, as when we sweep, the majority of what we sweep up appears to be old mortar.

I have consulted a contractor over the phone and he said to use type n or o mortar to repoint. I am waiting to hear back from him to have him come and give my wife and I an estimate of how much a professional job would cost as well as an estimate to repoint/ tuckpoint the outside.

In the meantime, I have been thinking about repointing the basement myself. I was wondering about how much of a wall can be repointed at a time without compromising the integrity of my home. To give a bit mor detail, the room I would like to start on is about 30 feet long x 15 feet wide x almost 8 feet high.

Can anyone confirm if type n or o will be good for the old brick as well as offering any insight as to how much of a wall can be done at a time ( and maybe how long I should wait for a section to completely dry before moving on :) ). Also how many square feet can I expect to cover with an 80 lb bag of mortar just repointing...?

Thanks so much in advance!
 
If the bricks are the old soft type built in lime mortar, then it's best to repoint them with lime mortar.
Cement mortars can damage the brickwork in time.
 
stuart45 said:
If the bricks are the old soft type built in lime mortar, then it's best to repoint them with lime mortar.
Cement mortars can damage the brickwork in time.

I had read that online as well, but had discounted it due to what the masonry contractor had stated... Thanks for your response :)

Any clue to about how much on a wall/room of a basement I can repoint at one time?
 
The amount of wall you can rake out at a time depends on the stability of the wall and how deep the mortar needs to be raked out. On some walls the whole wall can be raked out first.
 
stuart45 said:
The amount of wall you can rake out at a time depends on the stability of the wall and how deep the mortar needs to be raked out. On some walls the whole wall can be raked out first.

Thanks again :)
 

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