Masonry restoration and renovation
Repair, replacement and matching on existing brick, stone and block, including buildings that stay open while we work.
Restoration is priced on what you can see and built on what you find. The elevation that looked like spot repointing turns out to have failed ties behind it. We would rather tell you that at the walkthrough than in a change order, so our proposals say plainly what is included, what is carried as an allowance, and what nobody will know until the wall is opened.
What we do
Tuckpointing and repointing
Unit replacement in brick, stone and block
CMU infill at removed openings
Helical tie and anchor installation
Cleaning, from light wash to restoration cleaning
Sealant and joint renewal
Lintel and shelf angle replacement
Selective demolition of existing masonry
Crack stitching and stabilization
Repair of water damage where it originates in the masonry
Matching what is already standing
A repair that does not match reads as damage. Mortar color and joint profile decide that as much as the unit does. We take samples from the existing wall, match the mortar, and put up a test patch somewhere inconspicuous before anyone touches the elevation the public sees.
On the Phase 2 renovation of the Huey P. Long Field House at LSU, that meant working into a 1930s buff brick and cast stone facade that the whole campus walks past every day.
Soft mortar on old walls
On older masonry the mortar is supposed to be the weak part of the wall. Repoint a soft historic brick with a hard modern portland mix and the joint stops moving, so the brick takes the stress instead and spalls at the face. The damage shows up years later and it is not repairable, only replaceable.
That is why the mix matters more than it looks like it should. On historic work we match the existing mortar in strength as well as color, which usually means a lime based mix rather than whatever is on the truck.
Working in occupied buildings
Schools in session, hospitals with patients, offices that cannot close for a quarter. That means phasing around the occupant's calendar, dust and noise control, protection of everything below the work, and access that does not shut the main entrance. It is a different job from the same scope on an empty site, and it should be priced and scheduled as one.
Common questions
How do you price work nobody can see yet?
By separating it. What is visible and measurable gets a number. What is probable but unconfirmed gets an allowance with a stated unit rate, so if there is twice as much of it the arithmetic is already agreed. What is genuinely unknowable gets called out as unknowable rather than buried. That way a discovery is a conversation about quantity, not about whether it was included.
Repoint or rebuild, how is that decided?
By how deep the problem goes. Deteriorated joints with sound units and sound ties are a repointing job. Displaced or bulging masonry, failed ties or units cracked through usually are not, and repointing over that is money spent hiding something. We say which one we think you have and why, before the scope is set.
Can you match historic mortar?
Yes, and matching it properly means strength as well as color. Where a building is under historic review we will work to whatever the reviewing body approves rather than proposing around it.
Do you work on buildings that stay open?
Routinely. Schools in session and public buildings that cannot close. It changes the phasing, the protection and the access, and it needs to be priced that way from the start rather than discovered later.
What about lead paint or asbestos in the existing building?
That is specialist abatement work and it is not our scope. What we do is flag it when we see it during the walkthrough, so it gets handled by the right trade before we start rather than becoming a stop work order after.
Can the wall be cleaned without damaging it?
Usually, with the right method and pressure for that unit and that age. The wrong method takes the fired face off historic brick and there is no undoing it. Cleaning gets tested on an inconspicuous patch first, every time.