Clinker: Vertical joints without mortar - Is that okay?

Hello,

our house is almost completely clad with facing bricks and not yet grouted.
I noticed that some vertical joints are fully/partially without mortar.
Is this okay or does it need to be reworked before grouting?

Thank you very much for your advice ...

Occasionally vertical joints are completely/partially without mortar.

Sounds like drainage and ventilation openings in cavity walls according to DIN 1053-1.

Hello Otus, The wall structure is sand-lime brick, insulation wool, clinker. These are not drainage/ventilation openings but just "sloppiness" from the bricklayer. The question is whether he has to rework it or leave the filling of the joint to the joiner. My concern is that the joiner will also just quickly smear the joint with mortar and then the joint will not get enough material to really be "tight" for the coming years.

that vertical joints are completely/partially without mortar in some places.

I don't like "in some places" and "partially without," otherwise I would have also thought of norm-compliant ventilation joints. A picture may say more than a thousand words. "Bricklayers and jointers" sounds very much like a division of labor by semi-skilled workers – the "examined ratio" in construction is sometimes incredibly terrible. Your text sounds as if this finish should follow with intervals counted in more than hours, and I really only see botched patchwork, meaning: someone superficially smooths over optical perfection on already hardened mortar. Well then, cheers! In my mind's eye, someone appears to be pushing joint mortar in front of them like a snowplow, smearing the entire wall :-(

Before more people start sharing their fantastic mental movies here, you should post photos of the joints in this thread.

The butt joints in the facing shell must be mortared according to DIN EN 1996-2. Of course, drainage openings, e.g. in the base area, are exempt from this.

By the way, this standard also recommends a flush joint strike (instead of subsequent jointing). I actually don’t understand why quite a few builders have their facing bricks jointed afterwards. At least you should now insist on professional execution: The mortar joints must be scratched out to a depth of at least 15 mm before jointing...