Single brick garden wall terminating in a brick gate pillar – looks like a bit of movement (probably caused by a nearby tree) has opened up a gap in the mortar. Its taken its time to do it (wall is prob 80 years old).

Having never laid a brick in my life… is something like this able to be addressed by repointing or is it a knock down and put back up job?

Proper job would be to rebuild but repointing is so easy you might as we try that first. Make sure to rake out as much old mortar as you can and you should get a decent bond.

It’ll be a sizeable joint when you repoint.

You could try to use something like bits of slate as “pinning stones” in the wide joint. Not to completely fill but at least to reduce the volume of mortar.

If repointing isn’t a total waste of time I’ll give it a whirl – just to make the wall safe for the time being but also to reveal if anything is still moving.

Pointing is just a finishing and doesn’t contribute to bonding the bricks. Get it repointed, but hope no-one leans on the wall!

I’d be rebuilding that, at the very least from the bottom of the lowest loose bricks.

Pointing is just a finishing and doesn’t contribute to bonding the bricks

Not at all. If you push mortar well intro the joint it’ll bond nicely.

Rake out and clean the joint, insert some reinforcement along these lines Linky and then tightly pack with fresh mortar.

Pointing is just a finishing and doesn’t contribute to bonding the bricks. Get it repointed, but hope no-one leans on the wall!

Ermmm, then why do we still use mortar? That’s a bold uninformed statement even for stw!

Not sure if the cause was from a tree, unless there are also cracks going up the wall from the base.

There are three options;

1:repoint
2:remove all the loose bricks and rebuild
3:knock down the wall and build a new wall

Personally, I wouldn’t repoint that. Wall will never be as strong as it originally was. So that leaves options 2 and 3. But I would still want to know what caused the damage first.

Ermmm, then why do we still use mortar? That’s a bold uninformed statement even for stw!

From Wicki (to confirm my 30 years in building):

“Bricks, stone blocks, and other masonry units are typically laid in a bed of mortar. The process of placing a masonry unit in a mortar bed causes the mortar to be extruded between units. This excess mortar is cleared and shaped before the mortar hardens. In some cases, the bedding mortar is meant to be seen and the mortar joint is immediately given a finish profile. In other cases, especially where the mortar is pigmented, the bedding mortar is removed from the joint before it hardens (usually a depth that averages about one inch), and then pointing mortar is applied in the void and shaped with a finish profile.”

So its the mortar bed which bonds the bricks, pointing or re-pointing is a decorative finish which also stops moisture from getting to the mortar bed.

Regarding the OP, I’d still rebuild that wall 🙂

So its the mortar bed which bonds the bricks, pointing or re-pointing is a decorative finish which also stops moisture from getting to the mortar bed.

It’s still mortar though? It’s just pushed in from the outside rather than squashed out form the inside.

Mortar (or stone, or ceramic, or concrete) has negligible tensile strength , so as long as the gap is full, it’s doing it’s job. If there’s a horizontal crack in the wall though then the wall isn’t taking any vertical load, which is the problem, not the crack itself.

Rake out as much of the old mortar as you are able. Give the joints a good soaking with diluted PVA and make sure you force the mortar well into the joint as you repoint, and it should be OK for a few more years.