Pointing garden wall - When to point?

[Mat B]

I am about to start constructing a garden retaining wall and am a little unsure as to when to point it? Some books state the mortar should be allowed to set first and others state it can be pointed as each couple of courses are laid. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[carlbeardsmore]

You strike the joints of a new wall just has the mortar is going off. If you do it too soon , you will make a mess, if you do it too late, ethier you will "polish" the joint, or the mortar will be to hard to strike.

Only experiance tells when the time is right. Normally after a few courses are laid is the best time. But this all depends on how many bricks are in a course. i.e how long the wall is.

You have to take into account how stiff the mortar was in the first place, how hot a day it is plus what sort of bricks you are using. Some soak up water better than others.

Don't worry though, the window of the best time to do it is quite large.

HTH Carl