Crumbling mortar or bricks flaking apart after winter? We repoint the worn joints and replace damaged bricks so your wall keeps water out again.
Brick repair in South Bend usually means raking out worn mortar and refilling the joints, called repointing, and replacing bricks that have cracked or flaked, so your wall keeps water out and holds together again.
Most calls start with mortar you can scrape out with a key, or a few brick faces that popped off after a hard winter. Some walls need only new mortar, some need a handful of bricks swapped out, and older walls often need a bit of both, and if the trouble is up on the roof it's usually a job for chimney repair. The price moves with how many joints and bricks are failing, how hard the old brick is to match and how high the work sits, and the schedule mostly turns on getting mild, dry days for the mortar to cure. When I come out, I walk the wall with you and write up what I'd do in plain words.
I come out to look at your brick and write the estimate myself, and then I work on the crew alongside our masons and laborers. The person who told you what your wall needs is the same one making sure it gets done that way.
I grew up fixing fences, barn walls and old foundations on the family farm, then learned masonry under an experienced mason around South Bend before starting this business in 2023. Careful repair on older brick, like repointing and chimney work, is what people know us for.
We're fully licensed and insured. A patch done wrong costs more than doing it right once, so we'd rather fix what's causing the damage than cover it up. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. Call (574) 213-0235 or use the form to set up a visit.
We reply within 1 business day, and the quote is free and done on site, with no pressure and no obligation. I come out, look over the joints and bricks with you, and write up what the wall needs in plain words. If you have photos of the worn joints or damaged bricks and know roughly how old the house is, send those along so I come ready.
Masonry is one of the kinds of work the City of South Bend and St. Joseph County list on their renovation permit application, along with chimneys, roofing and siding. Before we start, we check with the office that covers your address, and when your job calls for a permit, we pull it as part of the job. The city and county also require every contractor, subcontractors included, to be registered or licensed with the Building Department, so that's worth checking on whoever you hire.
Around South Bend we see plenty of older brick houses where the mortar on the weather side has washed back, chimneys with loose top courses, and steps and low walls where winter freezing has popped the brick faces. We're based in South Bend and do the same work in many cities around it in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan, from Mishawaka to Niles.
Your joints need repointing when the mortar has worn back more than 1/4 inch, crumbles when you touch it, has holes or hairline cracks, or has pulled away from the brick. Original joints that are still sound are better left alone than redone. Repointing takes a lot of labor, so keeping it to the joints that show those signs keeps the job focused.
The new mortar should be no stronger than the original in how much load it takes before it crushes. Mortar that's harder than what's there puts stress where brick meets mortar, and that can make the brick face spall, or break away. It's a fair question to ask any mason before work starts, us included.
Mortar joints typically last more than 25 years, while the bricks themselves may well last more than 100. On an older house that means the joints will wear out long before the brick does. It makes sense to plan on joint repair more than once over the life of the wall.
One cost guide says to plan repointing for spring or fall, when daytime temperatures stay between 40 and 90 degrees for at least 24 to 72 hours. In South Bend the average last spring freeze comes on April 29, mid-winter through early spring is the wettest time of year, and autumn is the driest. That usually makes fall a good window here, so it pays to call before the weather turns.
There's no honest single number, because it turns on how much of the wall needs work, how close a match the old brick is and how hard the wall is to reach. Timing matters too, since the same cost guide says emergency work in winter or during extreme heat waves will likely cost more. I'll put a figure on your wall once I've seen it.
On older brick, hand chisels and a mash hammer, a short heavy hammer masons use, usually do the least harm. Power saws and grinders are the most common method, and in unskilled hands they can ruin historic masonry, especially soft brick, so ask any mason how they plan to take the mortar out. If your house is a landmark or in a historic district, reach the city's Historic Preservation Commission first, since it uses a Certificate of Appropriateness to look after those properties, and we'll help you get in touch.
