Last week, I fielded no fewer than five phone calls from homeowners with the same grim news. They found it nearly impossible to get quotes from contractors to do fairly simple repairs. Each caller’s ...

Brick houses are hard to damage. Anyone familiar with The Three Little Pigs knows that. Inevitably, however, there comes a time when the mortar between bricks begins to degrade. The process of repair, ...

Tuckpointing—not repointing—brick can increase its lifespan while improving its appearance. How to tell if your home needs it ...

Repointing brickwork is usually required at least once or twice per century. Wear, weather and structural stresses cause the mortar between bricks to deteriorate over the decades, until you’re left ...

We've all seen it: The brick or stone wall where the mortar is all powdery, cracked or non-existent. "Mortar can disintegrate over time because of weather as a result of the freeze-thaw cycles. The ...