As a building material, brick is a versatile and easy to use option which is both stable and soundproof, as well as extremely hard wearing. This makes it an effective building material for homes.

Brickwork should probably not be practiced for DIY, except perhaps in the case of a garden wall, which will be non-load bearing in most cases. However, the maintenance of brickwork around the home is important, and in some cases can easily be done by a competent DIY enthusiast - if you have never attempted brickwork before, though, it may be wise to hire a professional.

This is the most common brickwork task around the home; pointing is the replacing of damaged or deteriorating mortar with fresh mortar. This process may also be known as re-pointing or tuck-pointing.

To do this, you will first need to scrape out any deteriorated mortar (that hasn't yet fallen out). You shouldn't scrape using power tools, as you risk damaging bricks. Lime-based mortar will crumble away fairly easily. To replace the mortar, a special repointing tool, which is similar to a mortar trowel, but is smaller, and has straight sides.

If your damaged brick is set in a wall secured with the older, lime-based mortar, removing and replacing a brick should be a simple task to accomplish. In the event that simply repointing around the brick will not be sufficient. The first task is to find a suitable replacement brick, so that the new one will not stick out like the proverbial sore thumb! By chipping off a small portion of the damaged brick, you can take it to a builders merchant who will hopefully be able to provide a replacement brick, matching the remaining bricks as closely as possible, though it is unlikely than an exact match will be found.

Once you have found a suitable brick, or bricks, you should remove any mortar from around the damaged brick, and pull the brick from the wall. Any remaining mortar or debris should be also be removed - for this reason, a thick pair of gloves is highly recommended!

Next, dampen the surrounding bricks so that they do not absorb too much water from the new mortar. Next lay the new mortar in the gap; on the bottom and along the sides. Place the brick in the gap, and push it in. Pack in more mortar, scraping away any excess.

Never replace the brick simply by turning the old one around - the damaged brick could have structural problems, which in most cases will cause the undamaged side to crack or crumble away, and so will require replacement in the future.

If you need to repoint some brickwork, or replace some bricks; or if you wish to do some DIY bricklaying, you will need to know how to make mortar. The ingredients for this are cement, soft builders sand, and water.

Start off by laying a sheet of plastic down on a flat surface. Then, mix together sand and cement in the ratio of 1 part cement : 5 parts soft builders sand. If possible, you should sort these into the required ratio's before mixing.

The resulting mixture should take on an even colour. With the correct mixture attained, you should get a bucket of water, to which you should add a few drops of washing up liquid (which will act as a plasterer, making the mortar easier to use), as well as any additives you wish to use (depending on the task the mortar is to be used for, and the colour you want the mortar to be).

Your mortar mix should now be shaped into a mound with a hollow centre. Add in water, and mix the mortar until the water has all been absorbed, before adding a little more. Repeat until the mix has taken on a dark grey colour. The mix should last between 30 minutes and an hour, though will take up to 3 days to dry completely. The slower the mortar dries, the stronger it becomes, and so it is always best to cover up the mortar, particularly in hot weather, to allow it to be as strong as possible by keeping it cool. During frosty weather, new mortar should also be covered, to prevent frost getting into the mortar and causing damage with the effects of repeated freezing and thawing.