Tuckpointing & Masonry Repair in Park Ridge

Park Ridge has some of the best prewar housing stock we work on, and the masonry work here is closer to restoration than repair.

Georgians, Tudors, brick bungalows and colonials from the 1910s through the 1930s, most of them with limestone sills, lintels, water tables and entry surrounds. The brick was laid up with soft lime-based mortar, and the single most consequential decision on any repointing job here is matching that.

We have been called in more than once to deal with the aftermath of a house repointed in hard Portland-heavy mortar. The mortar itself holds up fine. What happens is that the wall continues to expand and contract, and because the new mortar is now harder than the century-old brick, the brick becomes the weakest element and the faces start spalling off. It is a much more expensive problem than the repointing was.

On the limestone, the same principle applies to both mortar and cleaning. Lime-based mortar at the joints. Gentle cleaning methods rather than abrasive blasting, which strips the hard outer skin off limestone and leaves it soaking up water for the rest of its life.

Cracked sills can usually be repaired rather than replaced, either with a color-matched patch or a dutchman.