Pointing :- It is the art of finishing the mortar joints in the exposed brick or stone masonry with suitable cement or lime mortar, in order to protect the joints from weather effects and also to improve the appearance of building structure. Pointing is a type of front of the house exposed finish on masonry work.

Object of pointing :- The main object of the pointing is to maintaining the joints of the structures. Pointing being cheap can be adopted in places of low rainfall. Pointing gives resisting power to the bricks and stones used in construction towards weather conditions.

Operation of pointing :-
1. All the mortar joints (on the masonry face required to be pointed) are raked out by a special pointing tool to a depth of 15 to 20 mm, so as to provide an adequate key for the fresh mortar used for pointing.
2. All the loose mortar and dust are removed by brushes.
3. The joints and wall surface are washed with clean water, and then kept wet for few hours. The joints so prepared, are filled with suitable mortar with a small trowel.
4. The mortar is well presses into the joints to form a close contact with the old interior mortar joints and all excess mortar sticking to the sides are scraped away.
5. The finished pointing work is kept wet for about 3 days when lime mortar is used for pointing and for 10 days when cement mortar is used for pointing.