Mortar dye

Bob Eldritch wrote:
> I need to repoint some brickwork. One of the things I'm wondering about
> is whether or not to use mortar dye to darken the mortar so it is close
> to the color of the bricks. It seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea but I
> notice that the professional jobs I have seen around here do not use it.
>
> Is there any reason not to use it?

Unless you're going to be covering the entire wall and every joint
(moderately unusual amount of repointing, but not unheard of), you'd
leave a mismatch color for sure.

Otherwise, there's no real reason other one of what appearance one is
striving for--it adds only slightly to cost, a little to labor for the
pro's but there are far more brick laid w/o color than with.

For amateur, getting a match in color from one batch of mortar to the
next may be a little iffy particularly if not making consistent batch
sizes as would a pro w/ a full mixer setup, etc., ...

So, it's just a "your call" sorta' thing...

--

I see it a lot around here, except in cheap housing. Quality houses often
use brown pigmented mortar with brown bricks. I once worked in a building
that was erected in 1848 and it had red pigmented mortar between the bricks.
The amazing part of this old building was the mortar thickness, only 1/8 of
an inch and it was a 4 story building.

"Bob Eldritch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:9bd59d866c2f85a6c6ddcc8c678175ae@pseudo.borked.net...
>I need to repoint some brickwork. One of the things I'm wondering about
> is whether or not to use mortar dye to darken the mortar so it is close
> to the color of the bricks. It seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea but I
> notice that the professional jobs I have seen around here do not use it.
>
> Is there any reason not to use it?
>

On Jul 8, 5:12 pm, "EXT" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I see it a lot around here, except in cheap housing. Quality houses often
> use brown pigmented mortar with brown bricks. I once worked in a building
> that was erected in 1848 and it had red pigmented mortar between the bricks.
> The amazing part of this old building was the mortar thickness, only 1/8 of
> an inch and it was a 4 story building.
>
> "Bob Eldritch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:9bd59d866c2f85a6c6ddcc8c678175ae@pseudo.borked.net...
>
>
>
> >I need to repoint some brickwork. One of the things I'm wondering about
> > is whether or not to use mortar dye to darken the mortar so it is close
> > to the color of the bricks. It seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea but I
> > notice that the professional jobs I have seen around here do not use it.
>
> > Is there any reason not to use it?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

What if you need to repair some mortar around windows that has fallen
out. Does anybody have a good idea how to match the color of new
mortar with mortar that has been weathering for 40 years? I don't
want the repair job to be glaringly obvious.