How to re-point your garden wall when there are more gaps than brick (for girls).

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I moved house in 2021 and though my new house ticked ALL my boxes, every singel one, there were a few things I noticed which I wanted sorting but would have to wait until I could do them properly but which I felt wouldn't have damaged anything in a worst case scenario. I have NO experience with bricklaying whatsoever other than I once did a course in a room next to a brick-laying course room and I once really, really fancied a builder who specialised in bricklaying. (trust me, he was also perfection). So, my new huose had LOTS and LOTS of garden wall - all more of a 2-3 brick high decorative wall rather than a supporting wall but the house originally was a showhouse for the estate and I think they must have had a lot of bricks spare, or maybe lots of work experience staff who were hanging about doing nothing. I believe the process is called pointing or re-pointing, where the cement in between the bricks has either fallen out, was never put in properly in the first place. Much of the cement in my walls had crumbled and over the years the weeds got in, the mud got in, rain got in and insects got in. Clearly if rain gets in and freezes, it caused further issues and as the house is on a mountain, we gets LOTS of wet weather and cold weather (and, for the balance we have lots of lovely sun in Summer too). The result was bricks held together with little more than mountain air. The more the cement fell out, the looser the bricks became and the more they wobbled. Replacement was not in the budget, neither was a professional. (Sadly neither was my fancy builder). So down to me then. As you can see from the photos, the cement was missing so I used a pre-mixed cement in a bag from the builders. Less than a tenner for a large bag, no messy mixing and I could mix a small batch at a time - just add water. I was nice to the chappie in the builders merchant and he loaded a bag into my car boot for me. I just had to lug it to my shed once I got home. I used an old small plastic (clean) ice cream container and filled it halfway with cement powder - I used a trowel to shovel the dry mix out and used a mask to prevent me inhaling it while I was faffing about. I added water a bit at a time from a plastic cup and mixed it in until it was like a paste - don't put too much water in it as it will cause a stain on the bricks and won't stick properly. Once mixed, it should stick on the trowel if you hold it upside down. I did buy some brick pointing tools on e-bay - you can get a pack of about 5 for under a tenner but it makes the job SO much easier. They come in different widths - my wall had gaps all different sizes so I used all of them. 1) Remove all loose cement, stones, mud, weeds and insects as you can from the gaps before you start. Use a brush. a stick, a screwdriver, whatever it takes to get it all out. 2) Grab a watering can, filled with water and head to the wall. Wet the wall bricks to be pointed as much as you can until the bricks are saturated, then get mixing with the cement and water - if you use the premixed cement you won't need anything else other than water although I hear if you use a little squidge of washing up liquid it helps it all bind together. However, of the MANY batches I made, I forgot on quite a few occasions and didn't notice any difference. 3) By now the wall should still be wet but the water should have absorbed into the brick by now so it will feel damp and not still be wet enough for water to run off. Great, that's what you want. Grab a blob of the prepared cement and squidge it hard into the gap - really get it in there, fill that gap and push it into the gap. Keep going until the cement is almost flush to the edge of the brick and then smooth it off with the pointing tool. Brush any loose bits off. Move on to the next brick and so on and just keep going over and over and over. It's quite theraputic. Really! It gives a sense of satisfaction. If you need to do a side piece I find it handy to put a bit of card on the floor to catch any bits and hold a blob on the trowel while pushing it into the gaps, smooth with the pointing tool and carry on. Keep going until you loose the will to carry on, finish the batch and then I will let you finish for a while. Scrape out as much of the mix as you can into the bin and rinse out any residue - NEVER put the mix down the drain. NEVER! Also you will need to rinse the tools - don't let the mix dry on anything as it will set forever.