How to Make a Flush Style Mortar Joint

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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A flushed style mortar joint is a common joint used in brickwork. It's best used as an interior joint or for areas that do not have heavy rain or snow. A flushed joint creates a heavy shadow in the joint lines. Read on to learn more.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

Mortar
Mason's trowel
Piece of wood
Brush

Step1

Fill the joints with mortar, using a trowel. You need the mortar flush with the brickwork. You should work on one section of the brickwork at a time in order to keep the mortar from drying before you have time to strike the joint style.

Step2

Let the mortar dry. Before you can strike the joint, you need to let the mortar dry to "thumbprint" level. This occurs when you can press your thumbprint into the mortar without mortar coming off on your thumb.

Step3

Fix any flaws in the surface. Examine the work area for places where the mortar needs to be filled in or smoothed out. If you find a spot that has a surface flaw, use a small pointing trowel and mortar to fill in the void.

Step4

Make the flush style mortar joint, which is a mortar joint that remains flush with the brickwork. You need to use a strip of wood that is 12mm wide, 6 mm thick and 100 mm long. Drag the strip of wood along the joints to make a flush joint. You need to tool the vertical joints, also called cross joints, before you tool the horizontal or bed joints.

Step5

Clean the joints. After you finish striking the joints, you need to softly brush the joints. This removes any lose mortar from the joints. You must wait 12 hours before trying to remove any large section of debris.