Crumbling or cracked mortar lets water into your walls. We cut out the bad joints and refill them with mortar suited to your brick.
Tuckpointing in South Bend, also called repointing, means cutting the worn mortar out of the joints between your bricks and packing in fresh mortar, so water stays out and the wall stays tight.
Most calls start with someone noticing sandy grit under a window or joints that have sunk back behind the brick face, and on an older house that's usually the mortar wearing out ahead of the brick. The price moves with how much of the wall truly needs work and how hard it is to reach, and the schedule turns mostly on the weather and on any permit or review your address needs. When I come out, I walk the walls with you and write it up in plain words, so you know which joints need us and which can wait.
I come out myself to look at your walls and write the estimate, and I'm on the crew with our masons and laborers once the work starts. The person who told you what your joints need is the one up on the scaffold seeing it's done that way.
I grew up fixing 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 we're best known for.
We're fully licensed and insured, which matters on a job where our crew spends the day on ladders and scaffold against your house. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. When you're ready, call (574) 213-0235 or use our estimate form and tell us what you're seeing.
We reply to every call and message within one business day, and the estimate is free, done on site and comes with no obligation. I'll set a time to come out, walk your walls with you and write up what your joints need in plain words. A few photos of the worn spots and a note on whether your home is in a historic district help me come prepared.
The city's renovation permit application lists masonry and chimneys among the work it covers, so 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. Every contractor working in South Bend and St. Joseph County, subcontractors included, has to be registered or licensed with the city's Building Department, so that's worth checking for anyone you get a bid from, though an owner who lives in the house can do their own work. If your home is in a historic district or is a designated landmark, you contact the Historical Preservation Commission before applying for permits, and we help you reach them first.
Most of the repointing we do here is on older brick homes, where the joints on the weather side and down near the ground usually go first while the rest of the wall still has years in it. We're based in South Bend and do the same work in many cities around it in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan, including Mishawaka and Niles.
Yes, tuckpointing is another name for repointing, which is repairing worn mortar joints in a brick wall. The word also names an older finishing style where a brick-colored joint gets a thin strip of contrasting mortar, so if your house has that look, tell us and we'll talk through matching it.
It needs work when the mortar has worn back more than 1/4 inch from the brick face, crumbles when you rub it, has holes in it, or shows hairline cracks. Cracks running between the brick and the mortar count too. Only the bad joints need repair, which is why I check the wall joint by joint before writing anything up.
Mortar usually lasts roughly 25 to 50 years, while the brick itself can go about 100 years or more. So on an older South Bend home it's normal to need new joints long before the brick wears out, and sound brick is worth protecting with a careful repoint.
The new mortar should be equal to or weaker in strength than the mortar already in the wall. Mortar that's too strong puts stress on older brick and leads to spalling, where the face of the brick flakes off. Ask any mason you're considering which mortar they plan to use, and I'll tell you ours at the estimate.
Water is usually behind it, often from a gutter or downspout dumping on the same stretch of wall. In one National Park Service example, a leaking downspout leached away much of a building's mortar, and the guide says the downspout has to be replaced and other drainage problems fixed before repointing. Otherwise the new joints tend to go the same way.
I can't give a fair number until I've seen your walls, because repointing is very labor-intensive and the price follows how many joints truly need cutting out. Original joints in good shape are better left alone, so a wall with damage in a few spots costs far less than one that needs it everywhere. The free on-site estimate puts your number in writing.
A designated landmark usually does, because the commission's standards call for review of any project that affects the outside of the building. That's a good reason to contact the Historical Preservation Commission early, before you settle on bids, and we'll help you get in touch.
