Cleaning repointed brickwork

It will take a thin the top layer off, but that should not be a problem. Just brush it over the area, then rinse off when it has had a chance to remove any mess on the brick faces. Keep checking by wiping the faces with a wet rag as a test, once satisfied rinse the whole area.

Better not to get mortar on the faces to start with. There is a thing called a "finger tuck pointing tool", which I've found very useful as it's only 3/8" wide. Good for re-pointing where the gaps aren't uniform. Seen them on EBay recently but not in the sheds.

Use a brush to remove any mortar within the first day. After that it cures. Really though dont get mortar on them to begin with.

NT

If you push mortar into the joints off a trowel using a thin stick or something, the trowel will stop mortar getting onto the bricks below. The trouble comes when not enough old mortar is removed and you are really only scraping mortar onto the joint, when getting it on the bricks is almost inevitable. You can also get a mortar gun for injecting mortar into the joints. Simon.