Why Pointing Matters (More Quinine)
Not to pile on 44 Berry, but this detail photo, which we took to illustrate the through-wall HVAC vents (hardly noticeable, right?), also shows why good pointing matters. Compare the area above the stringcourse to the area below the string course, which has not been repointed. The mortar joints in a brick wall represent roughly 10% to 15% of the total wall area; a bad pointing job can increase that to 15% to 20%. This may not go that far, but the difference in color, tooling and joint profile are clear. The new pointing practically swallows up the brick.
(BTW - those small openings between the HVAC vents are scuppers. Many buildings high-rise loft buildings of this period have them - they were there to drain water in case a pipe burst (either from pipes freezing - these buildings were often not heated - or from the sprinkler system going off.)
