934 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



the work np to the Hne should be strictly attended to, or other- 

 wise the building is no better than a building" slummed and 

 then covered with Portland cement to hide defects ; in fact 

 it is a sham bad work representing good. 



Tuck-pointing I see no objection to, providing it is properly 

 done. In many cases it is good work, and I will tell you 

 why : if brick-work is carried out with a neat struck joint, to 

 ensure good work it is necessary to do same as work proceeds, 

 before the mortar is dry, otherwise the joints would not last 

 the time. This method of striking the joints with a trowel or 

 jointer brings the line forward, and forms in a short time a 

 skin or crust, and prevents the inner parts of the mortar beds 

 and joints from drying. In tuck-pointing it is necessary to 

 roughly rake out the joints at the time of laying the bricks, 

 which leaves the pores open and greatly assists in hardening 

 the interior mortar, and, as it is left until near the completion 

 of the building, gives the same an opportunity of hardening. 

 I have known and can showseveralcases where, if the outside 

 crust or skin is broken, the mortar can be taken out with a very 

 slight friction as dust. Again, in making alterations to Public 

 Buildings in Hobart, built in the early days with stone walls 

 30 inches thick, the face work has been made with what in 

 the terms of the trade are called " shiners," and the inside 

 has been filled up with what I call rubbish, and the mortar 

 has come away almost like dry sand : now if this is done with 

 good face brick-work it is no better than rough brick-work 

 faced over with Portland cement compo, and although good 

 brick-work should show for itself, it is no safer than the work 

 I have described. I do not say this to justify using Portland 

 cement compo, but to show that both brick-work facing and 

 works faced Portland cement compo are subject, or may be, to 

 the same abuse. 



In tuck-pointing the bricks should not be coloured, only with 

 sufficient stopping to satisfy the joints, and then the white 

 line should be struck. The colouring of the bricks makes 

 the work like a painted doll's house, and is monotonous in 

 appearance, but let the bricks remain their own natural 

 colour the effect is enhanced in value. Tuck-pointing is 

 good if properly carried out, and the white line will last a 

 lifetime, and even should the white hne come off, the pointing 

 by the stopping is equal to any ordinary pointing by trowel or 

 jointer. 



Unless the work is properly supervised the tuek-pointers 

 Ti^ill make false joints to make work look even ; this is o, 



