Examples of strap pointing

Shows examples of cement strap pointing and explains how it can contribute to damage in brick and stone walls.

Independent guidance from Heritage House 1 min read

Cement strap pointing on a Huddersfield barn

These are just a few examples of the sort of horrible thing you can expect to see when a wall is strap pointed with cement. As you can see, they all look terrible, and almost every example here had damp walls and damage to the brickwork or stonework.

Cement pointing damaging stone — Strap pointing on a Yorkshire stone house is causing erosion of the stonework. This was removed, and the erosion stopped immediately.

Cement strap pointing causing stonework to spall — Cement strap pointing over lime mortar. When removed, the mortar beds were able to breathe and the wall dried out.

Cement strap pointing of stonework causing severe spalling — Another view of badly damaged stonework – all caused by pointing in impervious cement rather than porous lime mortar. When removed, the wall dried out and spalling stopped.

Soft sandstone strap pointed with cement — Hard cement smeared over soft sandstone is causing major damage to the stone. It is typical of wally builder and his incompetence. NEVER allow cement anywhere near old stone.

Cement strap pointing damaging Yorkshire gritstone — Cement strap pointing defaces this lovely Yorkshire grit stone wall, and traps moisture into the mortar joints. As it tries to get out, the stone around the cement crumbles. All this cement needs to be removed.