When to re-set a brick in a wall?

Question

I have a single-family home with brick all around. The home was built in the early 80s. Some of the mortar is starting to crack here and there. I had a tuckpointer come and give me an estimate on repairing it, and he told me something interesting. He said if a horizontal crack is as long as the brick itself, that brick needs to be removed and reset because most likely, the mortar between the brick and its neighbor is most likely broken as well and needs to be replaced. The cracks I have are very thin, they're just long (nearly the length of a brick).

Is what he said true? Thanks,

mj

Answer 1

That is a new one to me. A picture of the crack would be good, but a crack that is only as long as the brick does seem to be a concern at all. If the crack was much longer, (4' and longer) with a bigger gap in the middle and tapers to nothing at the ends, that is room for concern there.

If there are only minor cracks here and there, the tuck-pointing may look worse than the cracks themselves.

If your picture tells a different story, I will update the answer, or somebody else may chime in....