The masonry that is letting water in
Chimney repair and rebuilds, step and stoop reconstruction, repointing, retaining walls and hardscape. All of it is water management, whether or not it gets called that.
A chimney is a water collector bolted to your roof
It is a porous masonry column standing above the roofline with no protection from anything. Rain lands on it, wind drives water into the joints, and every freeze pushes whatever soaked in a fraction wider. Then it thaws and does it again. A chimney is the most exposed masonry on the house and it gets the least attention.
Most chimney leaks trace to three places: a cracked crown, failed flashing where the stack meets the roof, or mortar joints that have opened enough to admit water. All three are repairable long before a rebuild is on the table, if somebody looks.
- Crown rebuilt with a proper overhang and drip edge
- Flashing and counter-flashing set into the mortar joint, not caulked to the brick
- Repointing to match the existing mortar and joint profile
- Breathable water repellent, which sheds water without trapping vapor inside
- Caps and dampers so the flue stops taking rain directly
- Full or partial rebuild where the stack has gone past repair
Rebuilt so they stop moving
Front steps take more abuse than any other masonry on a property. Freeze and thaw, road salt tracked up them all winter, and water that collects where the stoop meets the house because that joint opened up years ago.
By the time a tread is spalling or the whole stoop has tilted toward the door, the concrete is the visible half of the problem. What is under it has usually washed out or settled. We fix the drainage fault in the same visit, otherwise the new steps are on the same countdown as the old ones.
- Base and fill assessed before anything is poured or set
- Drainage at the stoop corrected as part of the job
- Rebuilt or resurfaced depending on what the structure is actually doing
- Joint at the house sealed so it stops feeding water down the wall
- Rails and treads reset level and to code height
Hardscape, retaining walls and repointing
Everything outside the house that decides where water goes when it lands.
Brick and block repointing
Failed joints ground out to depth and repointed with a mix matched to the existing masonry, so the mortar stays the part that gives.
Retaining walls
New builds and rebuilds, drained properly behind the wall. Almost every leaning retaining wall we are called to was built without one.
Walkways, patios and pavers
Settled and heaved hardscape lifted, re-based and reset to pitch away from the house instead of funneling water back at it.
Mortar is the sacrificial part
Mortar is meant to be softer than the masonry around it, so that when a wall moves, and every wall moves, the joint fails instead of the brick. Once those joints open, the wall stops shedding water and starts absorbing it, and the freeze cycle takes over from there.
Retaining walls fail for a related reason: water. Soil that cannot drain gets much heavier and pushes far harder than the wall was built to resist. A retaining wall without stone backfill and a drain behind it is a wall on borrowed time, which is why leaning ones are such a common sight around here.
- Failed joints ground out to depth, not smeared over
- Mortar matched to the existing mix and the age of the masonry
- Retaining walls built with stone backfill, fabric and weeps or a drain line
- Patios and walks reset to pitch away from the house
- Settled and heaved hardscape lifted and re-based rather than patched
Backed by a 30-year warranty
A waterproofing system is only worth the paper behind it. Our work carries a 30-year warranty. Ask for the terms that apply to your job and we will read them with you before you sign anything, not after.
Masonry questions
My ceiling is stained near the chimney. Is that the roof?
Usually not. It is normally the crown, the flashing where the chimney meets the roof, or open mortar joints letting water into the stack. Roofers replace the shingles around it, the stain comes back, and everyone blames the roof again. The chimney is masonry, and it needs a masonry fix.
What is a chimney crown and why does it matter so much?
The crown is the sloped concrete cap on top of the stack. Its whole job is shedding water off the masonry. When it cracks, and thin ones poured on site nearly always do, water runs straight down the inside of the chimney through every course of brick. It is a small piece of concrete responsible for an enormous amount of damage.
Why do my front steps keep cracking after being repaired?
Because the repair addressed the concrete and not the reason it broke. Steps crack when what is under them moves, which is normally water: poor drainage beside the stoop, a downspout landing next to it, or fill that was never compacted. Resurface without fixing that and you are on a schedule.
Can you repoint to match old mortar?
Yes, and on older houses it matters more than people realize. Modern high-cement mortar is harder than soft historic brick, so when the wall moves the brick face spalls instead of the mortar giving. Matching the mix and the joint profile is part of doing the job properly.
Do retaining walls need drainage?
Every one of them. A retaining wall holds back soil, and saturated soil is dramatically heavier than dry soil. Without stone backfill, filter fabric and weeps or a drain line behind it, the wall is carrying a load it was never designed for. That is why leaning and failed retaining walls are so common.
Chimney stain on the ceiling? Start there.
Free assessment of the chimney, the steps and the masonry, across every county we cover.