Re-tucking mortar joints in Michigan stone basements and foundations makes up about 70% of our work in any given year. I would say around 8 in 10 of our foundation retucking projects are basements with the rest being stone crawl space foundations of one type or the other. I should note that another term for retucking would be tuck pointing Often times the existing stone basement walls are in tact and basically in place. Many times there isn’t any bowing in the walls or even any stones actually missing or falling out. The mortar joints between the stones have simply rotted away and turned back into sand almost. Some of the stone foundation repair projects we do the joints are completely missing and the wall appears to be stacked stones without any type of mortar visible between the stones.
How We Fix Crumbling Stone Basement Walls
I will work on getting some before and after pictures here on the this article so you can see some of the basement wall we encounter that have missing mortar joints of one degree or another. To learn more about the stone foundation repair work we do you can visit the home page of this website.The process of fixing the mortar joints or (Re-Tucking, Retucking, tuckpointing, tuck point, and repointing are also words I’ve heard used. And to be honest, just pick a word, we know what your talking about) n a stone wall varies based on the existing condition of the wall. If the joints have mostly disintegrated then we basically just clean the wall, being sure to get back in the joint area. There is usually a good amount of sand and debris that needs to be removed.
Usually some of the mortar joints are remaining in the wall and have reached the point where they are no longer structurally sound. We usually remove these soft, loose, or crumbling joints with a masons hammer, chisel, and a brush. In rare cases we may us a chipping hammer or even waterjet the joints.
- Clean Walls to Remove Debris, Cobwebs, and Flaking Mortar
- Hammer out Old, Loose, Failing Mortar Joints
- Clean the Wall and Joint area To Receive New Mortar
- Apply Bonding Agent
- Tuck point new joints and brush to seal
- Coat walls with Water Proofing Cementitious Coating
A good percentage of the old Michigan basements we re-tuck will have some mortar joints that are still structurally sound, some that need removed and retucked and some that are already completely gone and to be re-tucked.
A typical stone basement is around 20’x24′ or so, many are larger as they have been added onto, but typically they aren’t as big as the actual foot print of the house. Most of the basements we re-tuck take 3-5 days to complete depending on the severity of the existing wall deterioration. We use a sand and cement mix with some type S mortar and a bonding agent. This mix works well to get back into the wall and is strong enough to hold the stones in place for years to come. If you have an old Michigan basement and need someone to re-tuck the walls, request a quote and we would be happy to help.
