Tuckpointing & Masonry Repair in Chicago

The Chicago bungalow belt runs right through the Northwest Side, and it is where a lot of our city work happens: Jefferson Park, Portage Park, Norwood Park, Dunning, Belmont Cragin, Irving Park and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Chicago bungalows are a specific and fairly consistent building type. Brick, usually 1910s through 1930s, with limestone sills and lintels, a limestone or brick front stoop, and original soft lime mortar. Nearly all of them are now at or past a century old.

What we most often find on them:

• Mortar at the end of its life, particularly on the south and west walls and along the parapet at the top of the front facade.
• Limestone sills that have lost their pitch, so water runs back toward the window rather than away from it.
• Original front steps that are spalled, uneven and, after a hundred winters of salt, genuinely hazardous.
• Parapet walls exposed on both faces, which makes them the fastest-failing masonry on the building.
• Rusted lintels above windows, lifting the brick above the opening.

Two-flats and greystones have all of the same issues plus more limestone to look after.

One practical note about city work: access matters. Narrow lots and close neighbors affect how we can stage the work, so we look at that before quoting rather than after.