Masonry restoration in San Angelo TX - new joints that protect your old brick

You've probably noticed sand trickling out of the joints, gaps you can slide a key into, or a thin crack running along the edge of a brick. Those are worth a closer look, because once mortar goes soft, water gets in behind it and starts working on the brick itself. If the bricks are already cracked or flaking, we'd pair the joint work with some brick repair. The price turns on how many square feet need new joints, how deep the old mortar has worn, and whether the wall is tall enough to need scaffolding, which costs more per square foot. The schedule turns on the weather, on any review a historic property needs, and on fixing whatever is wetting the wall before we start. The estimate visit is where you get the figure for your own wall.

I start by finding where the water is coming from, because a leaking downspout can leach mortar right out of a joint, and repointing under it just hands it fresh mortar to wash away. Then we clean the brick with the gentlest method that does the job and keep grinders and blasting off it, since the hard fired face of an old brick is what sheds the rain. We cut the worn mortar out of the joints by hand down to sound material, dampen the wall, and pack the new mortar in layers so each one firms up before the next goes on. The mix suits how the wall was built in the first place, and we tool the joints to match the old profile so the repair doesn't stand out from across the yard. Last, we brush the faces clean and walk the wall with you, so you know what you're looking at the next time you check it.

Restoration often turns up the next project. If the brick outside is in good shape again but the fireplace inside is worn out or was never there, fireplace installation is the work to ask about. When an addition or a patched section will never match the old brick no matter how well it's pointed, stone veneer installation, a thin stone face set over a sound wall, can tie the house together.

If your house sits in one of San Angelo's historic districts or is a landmark, the city requires a Certificate of Appropriateness before any exterior restoration, and that covers material changes anyone can see from a public street or sidewalk. The certificate comes from the Design and Historic Review Commission or the Planning Director, and the Planning Director can approve like-for-like work, using the same material and design as the original with no structural changes, through a simpler review. Outside a district, check with the city's Building Permits & Inspections office about whether your job needs a permit. When a job does need a city permit, we handle the paperwork with that office and plan our work around the inspections.

A lot of the older brick we look at around San Angelo has been patched over the years with whatever mortar was handy, so one wall can carry three different mixes. I read the original joints, not the patches, before choosing what goes back in. We're based in San Angelo and work across the city and the cities around it, and our San Angelo page covers the rest of the masonry we do here.