Mortar problems

[beanie]

Hi
in my garage i have noticed some of the mortar has turned to a sandy consistency which when i poke it with my finger or screw driver just falls out, leaving a hole between the bricks.
In one place i can see a pin hole size of daylight were the mortar has turned sandy and fell out.

To me this sounds bad, but most of the mortar inside the garage is solid and on the outside it is better still, i'd say 30% has turned sandy on the inside and in some places it goes deep into the mortar.

the house/garage was built in 1980 and has had a property check survey last sept when we moved in with no problems showing up. there are no cracks in any walls.

any advise would be apprecated

[thedoctor2]

See our project on pointing and repointing brickwork. The old stuff needs to be raked out and new mortar pushed in.

[beanie]

thanx for the reply,
i was worried about it causing weakness in the garage or structual proplems, especially as its deep in places.
does repionting add strengh or just wheather protection?