Pointing tool

[Mary Fisher]

Evening everyone, especially those who might remember me.

We've had a dreadful few plumbing weeks, the boiler dying on New Year's Eve just before the extended Bank Holiday and all the historic piping having t o be re-plumbed and all the parts we ordered having taken ages to be delive red :-( It's been c-c-c-cold but since Wednesday we've been WARM :-)

Today's problem was a drainpipe overflowing. It was blocked in the bend fro m the gutter but was sorted by Spouse. But while he was up there he noticed that the pointing on that corner was, shall we say, lacking somewhat. We p ointed all the walls fifty some years ago when we moved in here.

He wants to know what the tool is which he can attach to a drill or suchlik e and which will excavate the gap to a specified limit.

anyone know what I'm talking about?

I don't, it was a very good wine ...

Mary p.s. crows have been going along our gutters and throwing out lumps of moss . Never known that before!

[newshound]

The sort which fits into an angle grinder is fairly brutal. If Mr Fisher did this 50 years ago he might want to practice at ground level first. Personally I would not try to do this using an ordinary drill, although an angle drill might be suitable especially as these tend to run at lower speeds. I have never used the "manual" type, but they might work quite well if the mortar is well decayed.

[soup]

Well stone the (some bird I can't think of at the mo :O) ). Is it the crows that do that?

Quite few times I have found lumps of Moss in the garden that obviously have came from the roof/gutter and suspected it has been some bird trying to grab it as nesting material but dropped it, I never realised the bird involved was a crow.

[Mary Fisher]

ve just before the extended Bank Holiday and all the historic piping having to be re-plumbed and all the parts we ordered having taken ages to be deli vered :-( It's been c-c-c-cold but since Wednesday we've been WARM :-)

rom the gutter but was sorted by Spouse. But while he was up there he notic ed that the pointing on that corner was, shall we say, lacking somewhat. We pointed all the walls fifty some years ago when we moved in here.

ike and which will excavate the gap to a specified limit.

ss. Never known that before!

It definitely was crows, we watched them.

[RJH]

Magpies on my street - pick the gutters clean.

[S Viemeister]

Hello, Mary! I was thinking about you recently.

[Mary Fisher]

ve just before the extended Bank Holiday and all the historic piping having to be re-plumbed and all the parts we ordered having taken ages to be deli vered :-( It's been c-c-c-cold but since Wednesday we've been WARM :-)

rom the gutter but was sorted by Spouse. But while he was up there he notic ed that the pointing on that corner was, shall we say, lacking somewhat. We pointed all the walls fifty some years ago when we moved in here.

ike and which will excavate the gap to a specified limit.

ss. Never known that before!

I don't think I said angle grinder, he said something like a hammer drill b ut i thought that might be a bit brutal. He just can't remember the name of the tool.

When we raked out the old pointing all those years ago we used some kind of hooked tool. Not a Technical term you understand.

But he really wants to know the word for the tool which can rake out to a m easure limit and preferably from a power tool.

Using power tools at gutter height is no problem for either of us. But than ks for your concern.

Mary

[stuart noble]

This can be used in a drill.

[cl]

Probably jackdaws (yes, they're crows), much more likely to be pottering about your gutters than any other UK black crow. We have some that nest in our (unused) chimney, they also squawk down the other (used) chimney much to our son's amusement.

[Mary Fisher]

No, we know that magpies are corvids but there are quite a few pairs of cro ws round here and we did see them from only about five feet away. They didn 't care about us - we were standing on the carport roof.

Spouse had heard and seen the lumps of moss landing on the carport roof so told me and we climbed up and watched.

This is the first time we've see it though.

[Mary Fisher]

We looked at that but it doesn't measure the depth. Nor does the one to use in an angle grinder.

The problem isn't that the mortar is decayed, it was a good (special sand and oil) mortar. The problems is that a few years ago there was a brief but powerful Earthquake and the corners of our house were disturbed.

I haven't questioned him further about the tool, after looking at the website he's decided that he'll use a chisel. No, NOT one of his precious wood chisels. :-) However, thank you all for your responses.

[Mary Fisher]

Sheila! I thought you were on the food and drink NG.

Old age would be wonderful if it weren't for the pain and the memory retrieval system ...

Mary

[S Viemeister]

I was - but it's moribund now.

Indeed.

[Roger Mills]

Welcome back Mary! Where have you been all this time, you old rogue?!

As various people have said, you need a mortar rake - and versions are available either for a drill or for an angle grinder - but I'm not aware that any of them have a depth stop as such.

You could, of course, just use a masonry cutting disc in a 4 1/2" angle grinder. That will be self-limiting for depth 'cos it will only go in for an inch or so before the hub hits the brickwork.

They all make an awful lot of dust, so make sure that spouse wears a decent face mask.

[Blanco]

Marks more sense to put one in a hand held circular saw and use the much better depth setting system those have instead.

[Mike Barnes]

But it's generally regarded as preferable to the alternative.

[John Rumm]

Hi Mary, Long time no hear ;-)

Personally I would use a normal diamond disk in a small angle grinder for the horizontal mortar lines, and possible a brick removing chisel in the SDS for the perps if they are hard to get out by other means:

[Tim Watts]

That is what the brickie who redid several hundred meters of pointing used on my place. And a hand chisel for bits he couldn't get a grinder into.

But if it's only a small section on the corner, it might be easier and less messy to use a hammer and small well sharpened chisel?

[harry]

ve just before the extended Bank Holiday and all the historic piping having to be re-plumbed and all the parts we ordered having taken ages to be deli vered :-( It's been c-c-c-cold but since Wednesday we've been WARM :-)

rom the gutter but was sorted by Spouse. But while he was up there he notic ed that the pointing on that corner was, shall we say, lacking somewhat. We pointed all the walls fifty some years ago when we moved in here.

ike and which will excavate the gap to a specified limit.

ss. Never known that before!

The tools needed are a hammer an a seaming chisel. Nothing to do with electric drills.

[stuart noble]

Only dry masonry creates dust :-), and the drill bit is slow enough not to throw stuff everywhere. Easy to poke into the bits the chisel doesn't dislodge. Suck it and see really