Best Time to Tuckpoint in Chicago: A Printable Season Checklist

Six months out: know what you have

• I walked the building and found mortar that crumbles when I scrape it with a key, joints that are open, or bricks that rock. How to tell if your brick needs tuckpointing explains what to look for.
• I photographed each elevation, front, sides and back, so a contractor can see what I see.
• I noted the worst areas first: below windows, near downspouts, chimney, parapet and anywhere water sits.
• I know roughly how much of the building is affected, because front only versus whole building changes the plan.
• I asked for at least one written estimate. What moves the price of tuckpointing covers how to compare them.

Booking: get on the calendar

• I asked each contractor which weeks they can actually start and what the plan is if the weather does not cooperate.
• I confirmed the contractor is a City-licensed mason contractor, and who pulls the permit. The City's Express Permit masonry page lists tuckpointing as eligible work, so plan on a permit; confirm current details with the Department of Buildings.
• If scaffolding, a dumpster or material will sit on the sidewalk, alley or parkway, I asked who gets the separate permit from the Chicago Department of Transportation (City of Chicago).
• I told tenants and neighbors about the dates, scaffolding and noise.
• I got the start window in writing, with the understanding that weather moves it.

The weather: what the thresholds say

The cold weather numbers below come from masonry industry guidance summarized by the Brick Industry Association (Brick Industry Association). They are written for new masonry work, and they are a good yardstick for repointing too.

• Air is above 40 F for the work window. Below 40 F counts as cold weather.
• If it is between 40 and 32 F, the mortar is mixed so it goes onto the wall between 40 and 120 F.
• If it is below 32 F, the crew has a plan to keep mortar above freezing and protect the finished work.
• No joints are being filled in wet or frosty brick. Below 20 F, the guidance says not to lay units below 20 F or carrying frozen moisture, visible ice or snow.
• At 20 F and below, the guidance calls for enclosures that keep the masonry above 32 F. That is a lot of effort for a repointing job, and a sign the work probably should wait.
• I checked the forecast for the nights after the work, not just the day of. Fresh joints still have to survive them.

Wall temperature matters, not just the air. NPS guidance gives wall temperatures between 40 and 95 F as the range that prevents freezing and excessive evaporation of the mortar's water (National Park Service). In peak summer, a wall in direct sun can dry mortar too fast. Ask how the crew handles that.

Rain and cure time have their own articles: see tuckpointing in the rain and tuckpointing in winter.

On the job: what to watch

• The crew removed old mortar to the right depth, roughly 2 to 2.5 times the joint width, about 1/2 to 1 inch for most brick joints (National Park Service).
• The new mortar is softer than the brick and no harder than the original (National Park Service).
• If the mortar is high-lime, someone is protecting it from drying too fast. NPS advises light misting once joints are thumbprint-hard and tooled, and burlap over the wall for the first three days (National Park Service). Ask what your mix needs.
• The crew is not using antifreeze additives to keep working in the cold. NPS advises against them and says to warm the materials and protect the work instead (National Park Service).
• A small test area is approved before the whole wall is done, for color and joint look.

After: protect and check

• I walked each elevation with the foreman and compared it to my "before" photos.
• I kept the permit, receipts and any inspection sign-off in one folder.
• Debris is gone from the gangway, alley and sidewalk, and scaffolding came down.
• I will look at the wall again after the first hard rain and after the first freeze.

What to do with what you find

Book now if you have open joints, loose bricks or water getting inside, and it is already warm out. Waiting through a freeze-thaw cycle makes the damage worse and the repair bigger.

Plan for next season if it is late in the year and the forecast keeps dipping near freezing. A rushed job in marginal weather is worse than a delayed one. In the meantime, get the estimate, the permit and the scaffolding sorted so you can start fast.

Call us now if you see a bulge, a crack that runs through brick and mortar, or anything that looks ready to fall onto a sidewalk. That is not a wait-for-spring situation.

Our tuckpointing crew can walk the building and tell you what window makes sense. For the full picture, read the Chicago tuckpointing guide.