HANDWORK, DUST, & TUCK POINT
The rear exterior brick repointing project began in the summer of 2025, and it was a dusty time! The last point job was when the house was built in 1850! The lack of maintenance showed - joints were cracking and falling out, multiple bricks lost their minerals and became soft, and bad repairs used harmful Portland cement in various locations.

We researched correct mortars and the proper way to do repointing, and met and spoke with the local company, Lancaster Lime Works, to learn more about mortars and brick. Come to find out, it was extremely difficult to find a brick pointer in Lancaster City that had a passion for old brick, used proper mixes for their mortar, and still tuck-pointed. Surprising right? For a City of Brick! Unfortunately, there is no regulation around keeping historic brick alive, protected, and doing things right or traditionally when it comes to maintaining brick in Lancaster City!

We finally found a legend, a local mason named Gino, an old school tuck pointer from NYC who resides in Lancaster, to tackle the walls. Every joint was cut out or chiseled, then tuck-pointed, and then wiped flush clean all by hand. About 400 bricks were replaced throughout the entire project, including 75 bricks dedicated to a chimney rebuild. Bricks were repurposed from other teardowns and sourced for the specific time period. It was a huge undertaking and lots of dust for months on end! Built to last another 150 years or more! We couldn’t be more pleased with how it came out!