# "Root "Joint Truly A First



## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

CJ. Tight spots like that, a 1/2" piece of copper pipe about 6" long with a 90* elbow works great. Strike the joints with the elbow. When it wears out, just replace the elbow.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

I use my fingers in areas like that.


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

Here's the back of the house. I WAS looking for a piece of copper pipe in my truck. Surprised I didn't have a chunk. I thought I had everything in there.


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

dom-mas said:


> I use my fingers in areas like that.


I don't need any help making my fingers look like sh*t. :laughing:


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Occasional holes in your fingers are an expected part of the job, no?


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

NJ Brickie said:


> I don't need any help making my fingers look like sh*t. :laughing:


I live in my thin cotton latex gloves all summer.


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

dom-mas said:


> Occasional holes in your fingers are an expected part of the job, no?


I guess that depends on how you define occasional. :laughing:


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## NJ Brickie (Jan 31, 2009)

CJKarl said:


> I live in my thin cotton latex gloves all summer.


I use insulated versions of them in the winter. I know it is stupid and I would eventually get use to gloves. But I hate wearing them and only use them if it is extremely cold.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Do we have any idea what a root joint is yet?


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## CJKarl (Nov 21, 2006)

NJ Brickie said:


> I use insulated versions of them in the winter. I know it is stupid and I would eventually get use to gloves. But I hate wearing them and only use them if it is extremely cold.



I don't like gloves much either, but the light cotton with latex is tolerable .


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

dom-mas said:


> weather joint or reverse weather?
> 
> Weather joint \, reverse weather /. reverse weather is very easy to do. Maybe one of the worst joints there is but it's actually the most common brick joint I see in restoration brick wo





A true weather joint,what you call a reverse over here is simply called
"trowel struck"


For me personally,I find both of those joints easier to produce doing overhand work rather than off hand,but that is probably because back in the day when it was utilized on common brick we did 90% of our work over hand.


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## heavyc (Jul 2, 2013)

JBM said:


> Do we have any idea what a root joint is yet?


It is exactly as I described it. On residential jobs when lots are cleared landscapers run heavy rototiller heads on loaders/Bob Cats and such to up root, roots from pines as their roots run along the top of the ground or very shallow under the surface. This levels ground and clears surface for sod to be placed smoothly. This leaves tons of 6 to 10" pieces of root laying every where. You pick up a 3/4" ×6-8" remnant of said abundant roots pieces and use them to tool joints. No BS when the tip of both ends is worn too pointy find another that fits hand well and continue process. It most closely resembles a rustic looking poorly done rake joint. If I can pull the location of the house from my fading memory of 3 decades gone by, I will make it a point to snap a photo. That was only several hundred jobs ago. But never forgotten it nor seen it but on one occasion.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

dom-mas said:


> weather joint or reverse weather?
> 
> Weather joint \, reverse weather /. reverse weather is very easy to do. Maybe one of the worst joints there is but it's actually the most common brick joint I see in restoration brick wo


Weather struck and cut is a bit more difficult, although true tuck pointing is probably the worst.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

stuart45 said:


> Weather struck and cut is a bit more difficult, although true tuck pointing is probably the worst.






One of the keys to doing trowel struck joints weathered or not is to do it when the mortar is "perfect" too stiff and you have pin holes,too wet and you could end up with smears. Also,I have found one needs to get as much of the trowel in on the "action" as possible,too much tip only and the joint has more waves than the ocean.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

I use a slicker to do the reverse weather, 3/4" and still square if I have one.


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

There is a bit of a difference between Weather Struck, and Weather Struck and Cut pointing. Struck and cut has the joints raked out first, whereas struck is done as the work proceeds.
This video shows struck and cut, although the mason doing it does not really have the correct tools for the job, so is not the best example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFMLwPQUYOo


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Wow, that was painful to watch. And he got those horrible results on what? 1.5 sqft? in over 2 minutes. Why not fill the joints with a slicker and trowel and then strike with the slicker again. Wet mud, bad results and a shiny joint that is going to crack in no time. PLUS the joint is barely recognizable as a weather joint


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## stuart45 (Oct 7, 2009)

Struck and cut is a slow job, but if done properly it can look quite good.
The mason in the video isn't the best I've seen at this. 
For the head joints you use a small pointing trowel known as a dotter.
The beds should be filled with a 6 inch pointing trowel known as the bedding trowel. This should also be run along the bed joint to even out the joint known as 'ironing in'.
The straight edge should be a feather edged timber with spacers to keep it off the wall. The knife, known as a Frenchman, should have the end bent over to clear the excess mortar from the wall as the bed joint is cut.
Although this is a quite an old style of pointing it was really popular on new work in the 30's. Joints were often filled with white mortar.
Nowadays it is normally done to match in old work.
I did work on a job in the centre of London years ago where a bricklayer was stopped from working on the pointing because he was left handed and did the head joints the opposite way.
Below is a better example of how it can look.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

That looks a lot better. But a weather joint cut and struck looks very different from the weather joints I've seen which are cut back 1/8" or maybe 3/16". That looks like it's flush and struck but they only struck the top


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